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listorieal Sketches of 



—THE- 



tltolic Chjifclt ii| Oregon, 

DURING THE PAST FORTY YEARS 

PORTLAND, OREGON: 

1878. 



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HISTORICAL SKETCHES 



-OF- 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH I OREGON, 

Dl'RIXt; THE PAST FORTY YEARS. 



The history of the Catholic Church — even in the 
most remote regions where its benign influence is 
felt — possesses great interest not only for those who 
Velong to "the household of faith" but, moreover, to 
every one interested in the history of civilization and 
Christianity. Nations have their religious historical 
aspect as well as those better known and more studied 
chapters pertaining to secular advancement, yet, 
whilst historians love to record the triumphs which 
mark the pathway of the pioneers of the forest, they 
are very reticent regarding the labor, the trials and 
the heroism displayed by the pioneers of the cross. 
Yet these heroes of heaven-born Faith — armed with 
no weapon save the sign of man's redemption, and 
bearing aloft the oriflamme of Christianity — penetrate 
into the remotest recesses of the earth, guided by the 
unerring voice of God who calls them to take up 
their Cross, and follow Him, until His precepts be- 



6 SKETCHES OF THE 

come known throughout the world even "from the 
rising of the sun until the going down of the same." 

It is our pleasant duty, then, to place before our 
readers a few glimpses of the toils and trials which 
the pioneers of the Cross endured in their early 
struggles to plant the seed of Christianity in the 
great Northwest, and in doing so we feel that every 
Catholic who peruses these sketches will treasure in 
his heart a grateful remembrance for those whose 
names will be inscribed in the niche of immortality 
so deservedly accorded by faithful Catholics to 
the apostles of the Cross. 

The world has its heroes, but to the missionaries 
of the everlasting gospel must be assigned a far high- 
er glory, because they are the heralds of a King 
whose footstool is the universe ! It is in His service 
that deeds of heroism are performed whieh make all 
worldly actions pale into utter insignificance. The 
reason is obvious : the hero of the world displays his 
valor for earthly glory alone, whilst the missionary 
of the Cross is animated by the highest and holiest 
aspirations that can illumine the soul — the hope of 
enjoying with God the eternal reward promised to 
those who scatter the seeds of Faith among the tribes 
and people who are without the knowledge of the 
true God. 

This, then, was the high and ennobling mission in 
which the pioneers of the Cross in Oregon engaged 
when they undertook to cross the almost trackless 
plains which then separated the Atlantic from the 
Pacific, and, as we follow them through their long 
and arduous journey, let us not forget to chant a 

Copyright 

Imperfect 

QadffL 

5 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. ( 

requiem over the graves of those who have passed to 
their reward, whilst we accord to those who are still 
engaged in God's service that homage so justly ac- 
corded to venerable age, holiness of office, and 
sanctity of life. 

The First Catholics in Oregon. 

When the renowned Jesuit missionary and subse- 
quent martyr to the Faith — Father Isaac Jogues — 
first planted the seeds of faith among the Iroquois 
Indians on the banks of the Mohawk, in 1642, he 
little thought that the grain of mustard-seed thus 
sown would eventually grow up into a great tree 
whose branches would reach from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. But, when we reflect that "the blood of the 
martyrs is the seed of the Church/' we need not won- 
der at such a miraculous manifestation of God's will, 
and the mutilated hands and tortured limbs of that 
suffering missionary were accepted by Heaven as so 
many holocausts offered up for the propagation of 
the Faith throughout every portion of the American 
continent. 

Another element of population through whose pre- 
sence in Oregon the Catholic creed was propagated, 
was the Canadian voyageurs, large numbers of whom 
were engaged to accompany the several expeditions 
of Lewis and Clark in 1805, John Jacob Astor in 
1810, and that of Capt. Hunt in 1811. In Astor's 
expedition there were thirteen Canadians nearly all of 
whom were Catholics, and many of these pioneers 
afterwards settled in the Willamette valley where in 
1838, still resided Michel La Fromboise, Ettienne 



8 SKETCHES OF THE 

Lucier, Louis Labonte and Joseph Gervais. Capt. 
Hunt's expedition haying encountered great hard- 
ship on the route across the plains, many of the 
members deserted from its ranks and remained among 
the Indians, and this fact will also serve to account 
for the presence of a number of Iroquois Indians 
who were found among the Flatheads in 1816. 
Large numbers of Canadians and Iroquois were also 
engaged in the service of both the North West Com- 
pany and the Hudson Bay Company as' traders and 
trappers at their different stations west of the Bocky 
Mountains. These hardy pioneers led a roaming 
life, but, true to their early education, amidst all the 
scenes of savage life through which they passed, they 
never forgot their faith, but on every occasion when 
danger threatened them they sought the God of sal- 
vation in prayer. In this manner the Indians, by 
whom they were surrounded, received the first know- 
ledge of "the white man's God/' and through these 
Catholics they also learned of the BlacJcgoion long 
years before they were visited by a priest. To the 
Canadians and Iriquois, therefore, is the honor due 
of opening the way for the Catholic missionary in 
Oregon. 

The First Colonists in Oregon. 
In 1824, Dr. John McLaughlin, chief Factor of the 
Hudson Bay Co., was appointed Governor of the 
Hudson Bay Co's. posts, with head-quarters at Van- 
couver, Washington Territory, where a Fort was 
erected that year. He was one of "nature's noble- 
men" in, every sphere of life. Of commanding pres- 
ence, strict integrity, sound judgment, and correct 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. V 

principles of justice, no man was better qualified for 
the position he occupied as the father and friend of 
both the Indians and the whites who then jointly- 
occupied the Pacific northwest. Dr. McLaughlin 
was the arbiter to whom both whites and Indians 
looked for the settlement of their differences, and the 
friend from whom they sought relief in all their dif- 
ficulties. His ashes rest beneath the shadow of the 
Cathedral cross in Oregon City, where he died in 
1857. He was originally a member of the Anglican 
Church, but was converted by Archbishop Blanche t 
in 1841, and was ever afterwards a most exemplary 
Catholic — May his soul rest in peace. 

Under the impartial supervision of this good and 
great man the business of the Hudson Bay Company 
prospered amazingly ; he perpetuated peace be- 
tween the Indians and the employes of the Company, 
and established twenty-eight trading posts during the 
fourteen years he presided over the destinies of the 
Corporation he so ably represented. "Under Dr. 
McLaughlin's direction a number of the employes 
of the Company whose term of service had expired 
were supplied with provisions and farming utensils 
to enable them to settle in that portion of the Wil- 
lamette valley which has since been known as the 
French Prairie, and which afterwards became the nu- 
cleus of a large and prosperous Catholic settlement. 
He also extended assistance to every immigrant 
whose necessities required it, and his good deeds 
have enshrined his name amidst the most honored of 
the pioneers of the Pacific coast. 

In 1834 the first wave of immigration reached the 



10 SKETHCES OF THE 

shores of Oregon. These comprised a number of 
Methodist ministers sent out by the Board of Foreign 
Missions. In 1836 a number of Presbyterian mis- 
sionaries arrived, and the following year a second 
installment of Methodist preachers were sent thither 
in order to help the first under the ostensible pur- 
pose of securing souls for the Lord's vineyard, but 
in reality to secure large tracts of land, large bands 
of cattle, and to enlarge their numerous commercial 
speculations. Again in 1838 the Presbyterian mis- 
sionaries were re-inforced, so that, prior to the 
arrival of a Catholic missionary in Oregon, the sects 
were represented by twenty-nine regular preachers 
besides a numerous retinue of agents, colporteurs, 
and other members — male and female. These forces 
were pretty well scattered over the country, the Me- 
thodists having establishments south of the French 
Prairie, in Marion County, and also at the Dalles in 
Wasco County. The Presbyterians were located at 
Wailatpu, on the Walla Walla river, among a por- 
tion of the Cayuse Indians, and also at Lapwai, on 
the Clearwater. Besides these, Mr. Beaver repre- 
sented the Anglican Church at Vancouver, as chap- 
lain of the Hudson Bay Company, so that the 
missionary field was well occupied prior to the ad- 
Tent of a Catholic priest, and it is well to understand 
the situation so that the reader may better realize 
the amount of opposition which the pioneer mission- 
aries of the Catholic Church had to encounter in 
their efforts to plant the Cross in Oregon. 

Let us now pause for awhile in our career after the 
cross-bearers of the west, whilst we learn from con- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 11 

temporary evidence the manner in which the 
sectarian missionaries preached the gospel to the 
Indians whom they came to convert. The first 
Protestant missionaries left the Eastern states amidst 
great eclat, under the impression that they were 
going to the Flathead Indians for the purpose of 
having them and all adjacent tribes take up the 
bible as their rule of faith. But, after a very brief 
trial, these gentlemen found the situation not so con- 
genial as they anticipated, and they abandoned the 
Flatheads to their perfidious fate. Mr. Townshend, 
whose work on the Eocky Mountains is our authority 
on this point, says that when he travelled a few days 
in the company of these "missionaries" he soon dis- 
covered that their object in going west was not so 
much for the purpose of spreading Christianity 
among the Indians as it was "for the gratification of 
seeing a new country and participating in strange 
adventures." They candidly admitted to Mr. Town- 
shend that the means of subsistence in a region so 
remote and so difficult of access, were, to say the 
least, very doubtful. Hence, as these propagan- 
dists of Protestant error could not be assured of a 
well-stocked larder, they quietly "folded their tents" 
and left the Flatheads in the mist of that pagan 
darkness in which they found them enshrouded. 
Little did these tourists think when they forsook the 
poor Flathead Indians that there were those coming 
after them who would never forsake the mission 
given them from on high, but who could say with St. 
Paul : "Even unto this hour we both hunger and 
thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no 



12 SKETCHES OF THE 

fixed abode/' These are the Catholiq missionaries 
whose labors once begun were never abandoned, and 
whose efforts we shall find crowned with success so 
that the whole Flathead tribe of Indians embraced 
the Catholic faith and are to-day among the most 
happy and prosperous communities in the entire re- 
public. 

No "missionaries" were ever despatched to repre- 
sent the various sects in any land under more favor- 
able auspices than were those ladies and gentlemen 
belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church who 
proffered their services to leave their eastern homes 
for the purpose of evangelizing the savage Indians 
amidst the "wilds" of Oregon. The history of that 
memorable band has been written by two of these 
missionaries in language more truthful than com- 
plimentary to their companions. 

Daniel Lee and J. H. Frost were two of the evan- 
gelical elect who were sent out to "bring the Indians 
to grace', and in their work entitled "Ten years in 
Oregon" they give us an unbiassed insight into the 
manner in which the Master's service was abandoned 
by these "missionaries," in order that they might 
enter into the slavery of Mammon. These gentle- 
men tell us that the Oregon mission involved an 
expenditure of forty-two thousand dollars in a single 
year, and no wonder, when there were sixty-eight 
persons connected with the "mission" each of them 
represented by a respectable array of figures on the 
yearly pay-roll. 



catholic church in oregon. 13 

Protestant Missionary Labors in Oregon. 

The Methodists, Presbyterians, and other sects, 
as we have already seen, were represented in Oregon 
as early as 1834 by a corps of missionaries sufficient 
in number — if they only had a divine mission 
to sustain them throughout their labors — to con- 
vert all the Indians from Arizona to Alaska, but Dr, 
Stephen Olin, L. L. D., a Methodist bishop, tells us 
that "very few of the Indians came under the influ- 
ence of their labor," and adds this rather damaging 
declaration : — "The missionaries were, in fact, most- 
ly engaged in secular affairs — concerned in claims to 
large tracts of land, claims to city lots, farming, 
merchandizing, blacksmithing, grazing, horse-keep- 
ing, lumbering and flouring. We do not believe" 
continues Dr. Stephen Olin, L. L. D. "that the 
history of Christian missions exhibits another such 
spectacle." The good Doctor was evidently amazed 
at the transformation from missionaries of the gos- 
pel into land-sharks and horse-jockeys. It is no 
wonder, then, that he tells us "the mission became 
odious to the growing population," and he concludes 
his evidence by asserting that "of all the Indians 
who had ever held relations of any kind with these 
men, none now remain." This is not very flattering- 
testimony for the success of Protestant propagandists 
coming fiom a Protestant source, but "let truth be 
told though the heavens fall" was evidently a prac- 
tical maxim in the mind of the Methodist EpiscojDal 
Bishop we have quoted. Nor need we wonder that 
missionaries who traded in horse flesh and town lots 
and who had "cattle on a thousand hills" should 



14 SKETCHES OF THE 

become ' 'odious" to the settlers around them, whilst 

the Indians instead, of seeking the light of the gospel 

as enunciated by these holy horse-traders, sought 

rather to retire to their primitive wigwams amidst 

the solitude of the woods 

"wh^re rolls the Oregon 
And hears no sound save its own dashing/' 

than to encounter a civilization the very preachers of 
which sought first the kingdom of this world, and 
took the chances of "all things else" being added 
thereto. 

Rev. Gr. C. Nicolay, a minister of the Church of 
England, visited this country in 1843 and has left 
his impressions of what he saw among the mission- 
aries of the Willamette valley in a work entitled 
"The Oregon Territory" which we have before us. 
He was evidently unbiassed in his judgment and 
speaks his mind only because his experience had re- 
ceived a severe shock in the manner in which he 
found the so-called "missionaries" comporting them- 
selves. Under the chapter devoted to "settlers in 
Oregon" this authority says with truth : — 

"It seems but the right and proper order of things that 
the missionary in uncivilized lands should be the harbinger 
not only of the blessings of the Christian religion, but 
of civilization also, and therefore that he should be followed 
in his track by the settler and farmer, the mechanic and 
artisan, who obtain as the reward of their superior intelli- 
gence and knowledge the wealth and independence which 
in their own country their simple equality w 7 ith others could 
not expect ; and this is just, the benefit they confer is in- 
calculable : it does not decrease its value that others in 
distant lands possess the same, but rather increases it a 



CATHOLIC ' CHtTKCH IX OREGON. 15 

he means whereby they may be raised to the same emin- 
ence. Now though this is to be expected and desired, it 
has ever been thought a just ground of complaint against 
men whose lives are devoted to the service of God and the 
spread of his Gospel, if they let other occupations interfere 
with that which ought to be their primary one, or seek to 
make 'a gain of godliness ;' and still more if the influence 
accorded to them, in consequence of their important duty 
and sacred office, be converted into an engine for political 
purposes, or they teach other doctrine with respect to our 
neighbours than the words of the Apostle — Tollow peace 
with all men.' 

In reviewing the history of the settlers in Oregon, all this 
will appear by their own showing to lie at the door of the 
American missionaries who have established themselves 
there ; and the necessity for drawing attention to it is this, 
that no satisfactory account of Oregon could be given with- 
out some notice of the Wallamette Settlement, and certainly 
no true statement of affairs there can be given without 
these facts being referred to. In their settlements at 
Okanagan, Walla - walla, Cowelitz, and Nisqually this 
charge is so far true, that their principal attention, as Lieut. 
Wilkes testifies, is devoted to agriculture, but on the Wal- 
lamette they sink into political agents and wouldbe legisla- 
tors. This the history of that settlement will sufficiently 
evidence." ********* 

"From this beginning the colony increased, till, when 
Lieutenant Wilkes visited it in 1841, it counted sixty fam- 
ilies, who, he says, consisted of American missionaries, 
trappers, and Canadians, who were formerly servants of 
the Hudson's Bay Company; and that the orgin of the 
settlement has been fairly stated, may be gathered from the 
conclusion he arrived at concerning it. All of them ap- 
peared to be doing well ; but he was, he says, 'on the whole 
disappointed, from the reports which had been made tome, 



16 SKETCHES OF THE 

not to find the settlement in a greater state of forwardness, 
considering the advantages the missionaries have had ;' — 
thus making the prosperity and advancement of the settle- 
ment depend in a great measure, if not entirely, upon 
them : but that their missionary intentions have merged in 
a great measure in others more closely connected with ease 
and comfort, is still more plainly evidenced by the following 
account given by him of the Wesleyan Mission there : 
The lands of the Methodist Mission are situated on the 
banks of the Wallamette river, on a rich plain adjacent to 
fine forests of oak and pine. They are about eight miles 
beyond the Catholic Mission, in a southern direction. Their 
fields are well enclosed, and we passed a large one of wheat 
which we understood was half sown by the last year's crop 
which had been lost through neglect. The crop so lost 
amounted to nearly a thousand bushels, and it is supposed 
that this year's crop will yield twenty-five bushels to the 
acre. About all the premises of this mission there was an 
evident want of the attention required to keep things in re- 
pair, and an absence of neatness that I regretted much to 
witness. We had the expectation of getting a sight of the 
Indians, on whom they were inculcating good habits and 
teaching the word of God, but, with the exception of 'four 
Indian servants, we saw none since leaving the Catholic 
Mission. On inquiring I was informed that they had a 
school of twenty pupils some ten miles distant at the mill, 
that there were but few adult Indians in the neighbourhood 
and that their intention and principal hope was to establish 
a colony, and by their example to induce white settlers to 
locate near them, over whom they trusted to exercise a 
moral and religious influence.' " 

At the mills, which were badly situated and managed, he 
saw twenty lay members of the Mission under the charge of 
a principal, and about twenty-five Indian boys, who, he 
was told, were not in a condition to be visited or inspected. 
They were nearly grown up, ragged, and half clothed, and 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 17 

lounging about under the trees. He might well add, 
"Their appearance was anything but satisfactory, and I 
must own I was greatly disappointed, for I had been led to 
expect that order and neatness at least (he could scarce 
have expected less) would have been found among them, 
considering the strong force of missionaries engaged here. 
From the number of persons about the premises this little 
spot wore the air and stir of a new secular settlement. It 
was intended to be the home and location of the mission, 
and the missionaries had made individual selections of 
lands to the amount of one thousand acres each, in pros- 
pect of the whole country felling under the American 
dominion. 

Holding these views, and with such interests to incite 
them, it is not surprising to find these missionaries among 
the first to excite political changes, and to introduce the 
consequent discussions and dissensions." 

Such is the character of the work inaugurated by 
missionaries w 7 ho left the Atlantic slope under the 
hallucination that they w r ere called to preach salva- 
tion to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow 
of death, but w T hose trading prepensities overcame 
their religious zeal, until finally the cause of Chris- 
tianity was wrecked on the shoals of aggrandisement. 

The foregoing extracts, taken entirely from im- 
partial Protestant sources, will give the general read- 
er a very 7 lucid view 7 of the "severe trials" w^hich the 
early Protestant missionaries undenvent in their 
so-called "missionary labor" in Oregon, but we have 
by no means exhausted the evidence extant on that 
score,, as Hon. Alexander Simpson, in his w^ork 
entitled "The Oregon Territory" tells us, in 
allusion to the Methodist and Catholic missions in 
the Willamette valley, that "the latter consisted of 



18 SKETCHES OF THE 

about one hundred families, a very regular congrega- 
tion , ministered to by Mgr. Blanchet, a most estimable 
and indefatigable priest of the Roman Catholic 
faith/' whilst the Methodist Mission, he adds, 
^consisted of four families : a clergyman, a surgeon, 
a school-master and an agricultural overseer." 
Evidently the temporal welfare of the well-fed 
Protestant missionaries was far more important in 
their own estimation than any spiritual comforts 
which they pretended to extend to the Indians. 



First Indian Missions in Oregon. 

Let us now turn from scenes where the temporal 
overshadows the spiritual interests to such an extent, 
and learn how eager the Indians were to behold the 
long-expected Black-Gowns . This interesting his- 
torical fact is elaborately set forth in the following 
historical document : — 

better of the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, to 
the Right Rev. Father General of the Society of Jesus, at 
Rome. 

St. Louis, October 20th, 1839. 
My Eight Eev. Father : 
Twenty-three* years ago, two Indians of the Iroquois 
mission, left their native country, Canada, with twenty- two 
other warriors, and went to settle in a country situated be- 
tween the Kocky Mountains and the Pacific sea. That 
country is inhabited by infidel nations, and especially by 
those the French call Tetes Plattes. They married 
there and were incorporated into the Indian nation. As 
they were well instructed in the Catholic religion, professed 
by the Iroquois-— converted by the ancient Fathers of your 



*It was actually twenty-seven years. — Ed. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IK OREGON. 19 

Society — they have continued to practice it as much as it 
was in their power, and have taught it to their wives and 
children. Their zeal went even further ; becoming Apos- 
tles, they have sown the first seeds of Catholicity in the 
midst of the infidel nations among whom they live. These 
precious gems begin already to bring forth fruit, for they 
have caused to spring in the hearts of the Indians the desire 
of having Missionaries who would teach them the divine law. 

Eight or nine years ago (about 1830), some of the Flat- 
head nation came to St. Louis. The object of their journey 
was to ascertain if the religion spoken of with so much. 
praise by the Iroquois warriors was in reality such as rep- 
resented, and above all, if the nations that have white skin, 
(name they give to Europeans) had adopted and practiced 
it. Soon after their arrival in St. Louis, they fell sick, 
called for the priest and earnestly asked by signs to be bap- 
tized. Their request was eagerly granted and they received 
the holy baptism with great devotion : then holding the 
crucifix, they covered it with affectionate kisses and expired. 

Some years after (about 1832), the Flathead nation sent 
again one of the Iroquios to St. Louis. There he came with 
two of his children, who were instructed and baptized by 
the Fathers of the college. He asked Missionaries for his 
countrymen, and started with the hope that one day, the 
desire of the nation would be at last accomplished. But, 
on his journey, he was killed by the infidel Indians of the 
Sioux nation. 

At last, a third deputation of Indians arrived at St. Louis 
(1839) after a long voyage of three months. It is composed 
of two Christian Iroquois. These Indians who talk French 
have edified us by their truly exemplary conduct and inter- 
ested us by their discourses. The Fathers of the college 
have heard their confessions, and to-day they approached 
the holy table at my Mass, in the Cathedral church. After- 
wards I administered them the sacrament of Confirmation ; 
and in an allocution delivered after the ceremony, I rejoiced 



20 SKETCHES OF THE 

with them at their happiness and gave them the hope to 
have soon a priest. 

They will leave to-morrow for their home ; a priest will 
follow them next Spring. Out of the twenty-four Iroquois 
who formerly immigrated from Canada, four only are still 
living. Not content with planting the Faith in these* sav- 
age countries, they have also defended it against the preju- 
dices of the Protestant ministers. When these pretended 
missionaries presented themselves, our good Catholics re- 
fused to receive them. "These are not the priests we have 
spoken of to you,' ' they said to the Flatheads, "they are 
not the priests with long black gowns, who have no wives, 
who say Mass, and carry a crucifix with them," etc. For 
God's sake, my Eight Rev. Father, forsake not their souls. 
Accept, etc., etc. f Joseph, Bishop of St. Louis. 



Establishment of the First Catholic Mission. 

The letter which we publish above from the 
Bishop of St. Louis, Mo., to the Jesuit Fathers, 
produced at once the result anticipated. No sooner 
had these courageous soldiers of the cross learned 
that there were thousands of souls pining for the 
presence of the true disciples of God, than they set 
to work at once perfecting their plans so that the 
bread of life might be broken to the Indians in 
the far west. Father Peter John De Smet, was se- 
lected as the apostle to carry the cross to the Flat- 
head nation, and, after making a few necessary pre- 
parations, he set out in the spring of 1840 on his 
long and arduous journey. Of the trials which be- 
set him on his trip he has left a full account in his 
sketches of the Western Missions, which are read at 
this distant clay with the same interest that sur- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 21 

rounded them nearly forty years ago. His mission 
lasted two months and resulted in the conversion of 
six hundred Flatheads, and finding the Indians so 
well disposed to receive the Word of Life, he re- 
turned to St. Louis for the purpose of securing ad- 
ditional Fathers, as he saw the work before them 
• was one of great magnitude. 

Father De Smet accompanied by two other Jesuit 
Fathers, accordingly returned to the Flathead In- 
dians in 1841, bringing with them many articles 
necessary for the establishment of a permanent mis- 
sion, and in a short time he had the holy satisfaction 
of beholding the emblem of Christianity'arising over 
the little church which marked the foundation 
of the Mission of St. Mary's of the Eocky Mountains. 

In the mean time the Canadians who had settled 
in what was then known as the Wallamette valley 
(but which has since become recognized as the 
Willamette) began to pine for the presence of a 
priest in their midst. The nearest bishop to whom 
they could apply was the venerable prelate of Eed 
River* they sent him two petitions, one dated July 
3rd, 1834 and the other Feb. 23rd, 1835, earnestly 
praying for some priests. In answering them, July 
8th, 1835, the Bishop, addressing the Governor, 
requests him to deliver them his letter. Those 
documents are too precious and too interesting to be 
omitted, therefore we insert them. 

The Bishop of .Juliopolis to Dr. John McLaughlin. 

Red River, June 6th 1835. 
To Dr. J. McLaughlin. 

Sir : I have received last winter and this spring a pe- 
tition from certain free families settled on the Wallamette 



22 SKETCHES OF THE 

river, requesting that missionaries be sent to instruct their 
children and themselves. My intention is to do all I can to 
grant them their request as soon as possible, I have no 
priest disposable at Red River, but I am going this year to 
Europe, and I will endeavor to procure those free people 
and the Indians afterwards the means of knowing God. I 
send together with this letter an answer to the petition 
which I have received ; I request you to deliver it to them ; 
I add some catechisms which might be useful to those 
people, if there is any one among them that can read. 
Those people say they are protected by you. Please in- 
duce them to do their best, and to deserve by good beha- 
viour, to derive benefit for the favor they implore. 
I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Your most humble servant, 
fj. jST. Provencher, Bishop of Juliopolis. 



The Bishop of Juliopolis to all tlic families settled in the 
>Tallamette valley and other Catholics beyond the Rocky 
Mountains, greeting : 

I have received, most beloved brethren, your two pe- 
titions, one dated 3d July 1834, and the other 23d February 
1835. Both call for missionaries to instruct your children 
and yourselves. Such a request from persons deprived of 
all religious attendance, could not fail to touch my heart, 
and if it was in my power, I would send you some this 
very year. But I have no priests disposable at Red 
River : They must be obtained from Canada or elsewhere, 
which requires time. I will make it my business in a 
journey which I am going to make this year in Canada 
and in Europe, If I succeed in my efforts I will soon send 
you some help. 

My intention is not to procure the knowledge of God to 
you and your children only, but also to the numerous In- 
dian tribes among which you live. I exhort you mean- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 23 

while to deserve by a good behaviour that God may bless 
my undertaking. Raise your children the best way you 
can. Teach them what you know of religion. But re- 
member, my dear brethren, that the proper means of 
procuring to your children and your w r ives some notion of 
God and the religion you profess, is to give them good ex- 
ample, by a life moderate and exempt from the great dis- 
orders which exist among the christians beyond the 
mountains. What idea do you give of God, and of the 
religion you profess, to the Indians especially, who see in 
you, who are calling yourselves the servant of that great 
God, disorders which equal and perhaps surpass their own ? 
You thereby prejudice them against a holy religion which 
you violate. When this same religion, which condemns all 
crime, shall be preached to them, the Indians will object 
the wicked conduct of those who profess it as a protest not 
to embrace it. On receiving this letter which apprizes 
you that probably you w 7 ill soon receive the priest whom 
you seem to pray for earnestly, renounce then at once 
sin ; begin to lead a life more conformable to your belief, in 
order that, when the missionaries will arrive among you, 
they will find you disposed to avail yourselves of the in- 
structions and other religious assistance which they shall 
bring you. I wish God may touch your hearts and change 
them. My greatest consolation would be to learn here- 
after that as soon as this letter was read to you, you began 
to pay a little more attention to the great affair of your sal- 
vation. 

Given at St. Bonifaoius of Red River, on the 8th day of 
June, 1835. f J. X. Provexcher. Bishop of Juliopolis. 

Demand of a Passage for Two Priests. 

The only means of communication from Canada to 
Oregon, being in the hands of the Hudson Bay Co., 
by sending every year a number of canoes laden 



24 SKETCHES OF THE 

with goods and conducted by a number of Canadian 
voyageurs, the Bishop of Juliopolis made an appli- 
cation for the passage of two priests in one of the 
canoes to Oregon, with the design of forming an, es- 
tablishment in the Wallamette valley. To this last 
point the Governor and Committee in Lbndon ob- 
jected, but would grant a passage on the condition 
that the priests would form their establishment on 
the Cowlitz river. The Bishop of Juliopolis having 
complied with the suggestion, Sir George Simpson 
wrote to the Archbishop of Quebec that if the two 
priests would be ready at Lachine to embark for the 
interior about the 25th of April, a passage would be 
afforded them. The following is the correspondence 
on the subject : — 

letter of Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson Bay Co. 
in the interior to his Lordship the Archbishop of Quebec. 

Hudson's Bay House, London, 17th Feb. 1838. 

* 'My Lord : I yesterday had the honor of receiving 
a letter from the Bishop of Juliopolis, dated Eed 
River, 13th October, 1837, wherein I am requested 
to communicate with your Lordship, on the subject 
of sending two priests to the Columbia river for the 
purpose of establishing a Catholic Mission in that 
part of the country. 

" When the Bishop first mentioned this subject, 
bis view was to form the Mission on the banks of 
Wallamette, a river falling into the Columbia from 
the south. To the establishing of a mission there, 
the Governor and Committee in London, and the 
Council's in Hudson's Bay, had a decided objection, 
as the sovereignty of that country is still undecided; 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 25 

but I last summer, intimated to the Bishop that if 
he would establish the mission on the banks of the 
Cowlitz river or on the Cowlitz Portage, falling into 
the Columbia from the northward, and give his as- 
surance that the missionaries would not locate them- 
selves on the south side of the Columbia river, but 
would form their establishment where the Co's rep- 
resentatives might point out as the most eligible 
situation on the north side, I should recommend the 
Governor and Committee to afford a passage to the 
priests and such facilities towards the successful ac- 
complisnment of the object in view as would not in- 
volve any great inconvenience or expense to the Co's 
service. 

"By the letter received yesterday, already alluded 
to, the Bishop enters fully into my views, and ex- 
presses his willingness to fall in with my suggestions. 
That letter I have laid before the Governor and 
Committee, and am now instructed to intimate to 
your Lordship that if the priests will be ready at 
Lachine to embark for the interior about the 25th 
of April, a passage will be afforded them, and on 
arrival at Fort Vancouver measures will be taken 
by the Co's representative there to facilitate the es- 
tablishing of the Mission, and the carrying into 
effect the objects thereof generally. 

I have the honor to be, My Lord. 

Your Lordship's most obedient servant, 

Geo. Simpson. 

Appointment of Missionaries. 
The Archbishop of Quebec had no sooner received 



26 SKETCHES OF THE 

the foregoing letter than lie immediately gave the 
charge of the Mission of Oregon to Rev. Francis 
Norbert Blanchet, then Cure des Cedres, district of 
Montreal, by sending him letters of Vicar General 
under the date of April 17th 1838, and instructions 
bearing the same date. His companion, Rev. Modeste 
Demers, who was already at Red River, was to be 
named by the Right Rev. Bishop of Juliopolis. These 
instructions were as follows : 

Instructions given to Very Rev. Francis Norbert Blanchet and 
Rev. Modeste Demers, appointed Missionaries for that part of 
the Diocese of Quebec which is situated between the Pacific 
Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. 

April 17th 1838. 
My Rev. Fathers. 

You must consider as the first object of your Mission 
to withdraw from barbarity and the disorders which 
it produces, the Indians scattered in that country. 

Your second object is, to tender your services to 
the wicked Christians who have adopted there the 
vices of Indians, and live in licentiousness and the 
forgetfulness of their duties. 

Persuaded that the preaching of the Gospel is the 
surest means of obtaining these happy results, you 
will lose no opportunity of inculcating its principles 
and maxims, either in your private conversations or 
public instructions. 

In order to make yourselves sooner useful to the 
natives of the country where you are sent, you will 
apply yourselves, as soon as you arrive, to the study 
of the Indian languages, and will endeavor to reduce 
them to regular principles, so as to be able to publish 
a grammar after some years of residence there. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 27 

You will prepare for baptism, with all possible 
expedition, the infidel women who live in concubinage 
with Christians, in order to substitute lawful mar- 
riages for these irregular unions. 

You will take a particular care of the Christian 
education of children, establishing for that purpose, 
as much as your means will allow, schools and cate- 
chism classes in all the villages which you will have 
occasion to visit. 

In all the places remarkable either for their position 
or the passage of the voyagers, or the gathering of 
Indians, you will plant more crosses, so as to take 
possession of those various places in the name of 
the Catholic religion. * * * * * 

Given at Quebec on the 17th day of April, 1838, 
tJOSEPH SIGNAT, Bishop of Quebec. 



Journey of the Missionaries from Lachine to Fort 
Vancouver. 
Accompanied by chief trader Hargrave, Vicar 
General F. X. Blanchet embarked in one of the 
light bark canoes carrying the express of the Hudson 
Bay Company, leaving Montreal on Thursday, May 
3rd 1838, reaching Fort Vancouver on the 24th of 
the following November. The journey from Lachine 
to Pied River (2,100 miles) was made in canoes, with 
occasional portages, in thirty-three days. The jour- 
ney from Bed River to the Rocky Mountains (2,025 
miles) occupied eighty-four days, including deten- 
tions. The river route was made in eleven light 
barges and the land trip — occupying five days — was 



28 SKETCHES OF THE 

made on horseback. Horses were also used in ma- 
king the tedious trip across the Rocky Mountains, 
from Jasper's House to Boat Encampment or Big Bend 
on the Columbia river. This trip occupied nine 
days, a band of seventy-two horses being provided 
for the use of the company. It took six days to 
make the ascent on the Eastern slope, and three 
days to descend to the plains on the Pacific side, but 
the missionaries were well repaid for the toils they 
underwent in the grandeur of the scenery that sur- 
rounded them at every step. The remainder of the 
journey, from Big Bend to Fort Vancouver (about 
1200 miles) was made in light boats down the Colum- 
bia river. 

Vicar General Blanchet having passed thirty-five 
days at Red River, took his departure in company 
with Rev. Modeste Demers on July 10th., stopping 
en route at Norway House and Forts Constant, Cum- 
berland, Carleton, Pitt and Edmonton on the Sas- 
katchewan ; and Fort Assiniboine and Jasper's 
House on the Athabasca river. During this journey 
the missionaries baptized one hundred and twenty- 
two on the Eastern slope and fifty-three on the West- 
ern. After passing the summit of the Rocky Moun- 
tains the missionaries stopped at the House of the 
Lakes, and Forts Colville, O'Kanagan, and Walla 
Walla, at each of which immense crowds of Indians 
assembled in order to behold the Blackgowns whose 
presence they had so long waited for. During this 
long and tedious trip the missionaries had the happi- 
ness of celebrating Mass and delivering an instruc- 
tion every Sunday, and on every day at which they 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 29 

sojourned at the Forts on their route. By this 
means the consolations of our holy religion were 
bestowed on many Catholics who for years had been 
strangers to the presence of a priest. 



Consecration of the Rocky Mountains to God ; First 
Mass in Oregon. 

_ As the summit of the Rocky Mountains was to be 
reached and crossed on Wednesday the 10th of Oc- 
tober, the Missionaries thought it incumbent upon 
them to celebrate Mass and pronounce the glorious 
words which make the God-man descend upon 
earth, in thanksgiving for God's protection and 
favors, and to consecrate, in a special manner, to 
their Author these sublime Rocky Mountains which 
by their grandeur and sublimity seem anxious to cor- 
respond to the invitation of Holy Scripture : "0 ye 
mountains and hills, bless the Lord; praise and exalt 
him above all for ever" (Dan. III. 15.) The country 
abounding the Rocky Mountains appeared as a vast 
sea of numberless isolated high mountains, and ab- 
rupt peaks of all shapes, where the eye of the trav- 
eller fancies seeing here and there perfect towers, 
beautiful turrets, strong castles, walls and fortifica- 
tions of all kinds ; as well as barren heights which 
form the base of higher hills and mountains raising 
majestically their lofty heads to heaven. Magnificent 
indeed is the spectacle displayed before the eyes of 
the voyagers in the greatness of the gigantic nature 
where the hand of the Eternal was pleased to retrace 
the image of His creative power. Early on that day 



30 SKETCHES OF THE 

therefore at 3 a. m. the Vicar General celebrated the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to consecrate to their 
Creator these mountains and abrupt peaks whose 
prodigious height ascend towards heaven to celebrate 
in such beautiful language the praise of the Almighty. 

It was on Saturday, the 13th of October, a day 
dedicated to the Immaculate Mother of God, that, 
being at the western foot of the most lofty mountains, 
the two Missionaries began to tread beneath their 
feet the long-desired land of Oregon ; that portion 
of the vineyard alloted them for cultivation. Filled 
with joy they retired a short distance from the place 
where the caravan was resting on the bosom of a" 
beautiful prairie, and there fell on their knees, em- 
braced the soil, took possession of it, dedicated and 
consecrated their persons, soul and body, to whatever 
God would be pleased to require of them for the 
glory of His holy Name, the propagation of His king- 
dom and the fulfillment of His will, The caravan 
joyfully reached Big Bend towards the evening. The 
fact of finding there but two boats instead of four re- 
quired, greatly checked the joy of all. The Captain 
of the expedition decided that one third of the party 
should remain until the rest having reached the House 
ftf the Lakes one cf the boats would return to their 
relief. 

The following day (October 14th 1838) being Sun- 
day, it was on that day that the Holy Sacrifice of 
Mass was offered for the first time in Oregon at Big 
Bend, on the banks of the dangerous and perilous 
Columbia. At this great act of religion, performed 
by Rev. M. Demers, the two Missionaries being much 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 31 

moved, consecrated themselves to the Queen of 
Angels imploring her special protection for the rest 
of the voyage. The boats being laden and ready, 
and the last prayer made on the shore, the two Miss. 
ionaries shook hands with their dear companions 
whoni, alas ! they were to see no more, and started 
at 1 p. m., on the turbulent waters, of the upper 
Columbia. The range of mountains lowering, as it 
were, amphitheatrically, continues from Big Bend to 
the lakes. The days are short in so deeply embanked 
a river which runs fifteen miles an hour, in a success- 
ion of rapids or rather cascades. The distance from 
Big Bend to the House of the Lakes is 165 miles 
which were run in ten hours : two hours on the 14th, 
six on the 15th, and two on the 16th of October. 

The rapid of the Dalles of the Dead is a narrow 
channel turning nearly at right angles on the left 
rocky high bank. The boats must keep close to the 
point of the left bank in order to avoid being rushed 
into the infuriate waves. That dangerous rapid was 
run down safely on the 15th, the boats being light 
with baggage and passengers and well managed by 
eight men, six at the oars, one at the stern, the other 
at the prow villi long and large paddles used as rud- 
ders. 



Eighteen days at the House of the Lakes : First Miss- 
ionary Labors in Oregon. Loss of Twelve Lives. 

The boats were no sooner arrived at the House of 
the Lakes, that one of them was unloaded and sent 
back to the relief of the party left behind. The 



32 SKETCHES OF THE 

House of the Lakes being still in construction, the 
Missionaries encamped as usual under their tents. 
The first week was spent in prayer, celebration of the 
Mass, teaching the Indians, singing canticles and 
evening exercises. The Indians of the Lakes soon 
came to visit the Priests, anxious as they were to see 
and hear the black gowns so often spoken of by the 
Canadians. They were found to be of a mild, peace- 
able character and well disposed to receive the words 
of salvation. They being the first sheep of the vast 
fold entrusted to their care, the Missionaries took 
pleasure in instructing them, speaking of God, of 
the Creation, of the fall of Angels and man, and of 
the Redemption by the Son of God. The Indians 
listened with attention, assisting at Mass with awe r 
-and before the return of the boat, they brought their 
children, (17) to be baptized, regretting not to have 
the same happiness to make their hearts good. It 
was painful to the Missionaries to leave them unbap- 
tized. 

When the day on which the boat was expected had 
passed without its arrival, a gloomy presentiment be- 
gan to seize the hearts of all. It increased in intens- 
ity the following day. At last, on the 24th at the 
conclusion of Mass, a boat appeared afar off, half 
broken, coming in mourning, without the usual joy- 
ful chant at arriving. The men were hardly able to 
move their oars. As the boat approached all ran to 
the shore. At the sight of so few men, women and 
children, a heart-rending spectacle took place ; an 
indescribable scene of desolation and shedding of 
tears began ; cries and piercing lamentations were 



CATHOLIC CHURCH EN OREGON. 33 

long heard and echoed by the neighboring moun- 
tains. For, alas ! the boat had capsized, and out of 
twenty-six souls, twelve had perished. At Big Bend, 
the boat was found too much embarrassed with bag- 
gage ; room was hardly left for passengers. At the 
dangerous Dalles, all went ashore with only a portion 
of the baggage. The boat started, struck a rock, filled, 
but was brought on shore. Haying been emptied 
and reloaded, the fur packages left in the bottom 
having got wet, rendered the boat heavier. The 
passengers embarked with the greatest repugnance. 
On the next rapid the boat filled up again. Then 
commenced a scene of desolation and dread with cries 
and screaming of women and children. The pilot 
commanded all to remain still, as they were approach- 
ing the shore. But Mr. Wallace, an English botan- 
ist, pulled off his coat, stood up, put one foot on the 
side of the boat and leaped into the water with his 
young wife ; the boat lost its balance and upset, 
and of twenty-six persons struggling in the water, 
twelve lost their lives, Wallace and his wife in the 
number. Some reached the shore, others were saved 
on the keel of the boat which fortunately fastened 
itself on a rock three or four feet deep at the head of 
a rapid. This calamity happened in the dusk of 
the evening. The body of a child was found caught 
under the boat. Sad, long and excruciating was 
the night. The next day, the boat having been re 
-paired, the survivors continued their sorrowful jour- 
ney. 



34 sketches of the 

Missionary Labors at Colville, O'Kanagan and 
Walla Walla. 

As soon as the ill-fated boat had arrived, an Indian 
canoe was dispatched to Colville for a boat and pro- 
visions, which had become so scarce as to threaten 
starvation and oblige each to receive a daily allow- 
ance. The repaired boat was sent the following day 
to the scene of desolation, to look for, and bring 
down the dead bodies of the lost friends. It brought 
down but the bodies of three children to whom were 
given a solemn Christian burial. Wooden crosses 
were blessed and placed over their graves. 

The express boat which had left for Colville on 
the 16th had returned; the one sent for by an Indian 
express had also arrived with provisions : there were 
then two good boats. All being ready, and the mis- 
sionaries bidding adieu to the good Indians of the 
lakes, the caravan left on November 3d. , the House of 
the Lakes where the last ten days of sojourning had 
been so sorrowful, and reached Colville on the 6th. 
The express boat had announced the coming of the 
JBlackgoitms ; the news had spread like lightning, 
thence the gathering there of the Chiefs of five na- 
tions. As soon as they saw the boats coming they 
rushed to the shore and placing themselves in file, 
men, women and children, they begged to touch the 
hands of the priests, which ceremony took a long 
time. A large house having been placed at their 
disposal, they used it to assemble the Indians in, 
and gave them all the instruction they could, du- 
ring the short time of four days they remained at 
this post. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGOX. 35 

Having baptized nineteen persons and celebrated 
Mass before the Chiefs and their people, who assisted 
at the sacred mysteries as if already fervent chris- 
tians, the missionaries left Colville on November the 
10th and reached Fort O'Kanagan on the 13th, after 
having passed through many dangerous rapids, dalles 
and portages. During the twenty-four hours they 
remained at this post, they had occasion to be con- 
vinced that the Indians who frequented it needed only 
to learn what is required in order to become good 
christians. Fourteen baptisms were made, and one 
Mass celebrated at this Fort. Leaving Fort O'Kana- 
gan on November 14th they reached Fort Walla 
Walla (now Wallula) on Sunday morning, the 18th. 
During the twenty-four hours they remained at this 
post they had three baptisms, celebrated one Mass, 
and were visited by the Walla Walla and Cayuse 
Indians, who, having heard by the express of the 
coming of the priests, had come to see and hear them 
on their passage, notwithstanding the contrary 
orders of the Head of the Wailatpu mission. Holy 
Mass was celebrated before the Indians who assisted 
at it struck with amazement. In so short a time the 
priests could give them but a short explanation of 
the most necessary truths for salvation. 

As this is the closing chapter descriptive of the trip 
of the missionaries across the plains, and as our reci- 
tal hereafter will be mainly devoted to events and 
incidents which transpired during the residence of 
the missionaries in the Northwest, we think it de- 
sirable to insert the following interesting letter of His 



36 SKETCHES OF THE 

Grace Most Rev. Francis Norbert Blanchet, then 
Yicar General, to the Archbishop of Quebec, de- 
scribing in detail the daily incidents of the journey 
across the plains and the arrival of the missionaries 
at Vancouver. 

Letter of Vicar General Blanche* to His Lordship Joseph Sig- 
nay, Archbishop of Quebec, giving an account of the Jour- 
diey of the Missionaries to Oregon. 

Fort Vancouver, March 17th, 1839. 

My Lord: It is for me a very sweet and agreeable task, 
to send to your Lordship news from the two Missionaries 
whom, in your zeal for the salvation of the souls entrusted 
to your pastoral solicitude, you have sent to Oregon, to 
cultivate the vineyard of the Lord. After numerous hard- 
ships and fatigues, dangers by land and water, in our journey 
across the continent, we have the pleasure, Rev. Demers 
and I, to announce, with love and gratitude towards God 
and the Blessed Virgin Mary, that we have reached happily 
the end of our voyage, yet not without losing twelve of our 
companions, drowned in the Columbia river. Please join 
in our thanksgivings to God for the protection and cares of 
his Divine Providence for us. As soon as we arrived, we 
went to work. The field is vast, our occupations are nu- 
merous, I have scarcely time to write. But I know with 
what anxiety and interest your Lordship is expecting some 
notes regarding our journey, the country, the labors besun 
and the hopes given by the Oregon Mission. May the in- 
formation I am going to give, satisfy your expectation and 
fill the ardent desires which you incessantly feel for our 
flock. 

I will begin with an account of my trip from Lachine to 
Red River (St. Bonifacius), where I had to stop to receive 
the orders of Mgr. Provencher, Bishop of Juliopolis, and to 
take along with me Rev. Demers, my travelling companion, 
already there since a year. I left Montreal, Thursday, 
May 3rd 1838. The 700 leagues^ from that city to Red 
river were traveled in 33 days, having arrived there on the 
6th day of June, on one of the Honorable Hudson Bay 
Co's canoes, commanded by Mr. Hargrave, chief trader. 
The loaded canoes which started some days after the light 
•ones, with a number of families, arrived three weeks after. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN • OREGON. . 37 

Everyone knows how dangerous this mode of travelling is. 
To spend days and often nights in an uncomfortable posi- 
tion; to undergo the inclemency of seasons, the gusts of 
wind and the torrential rains; to run down numberless 
rapids at the peril of one's life; or to travel on foot long 
portages through forests, rocks and ponds; to camp out in 
cold and damp places; to devour in haste a scanty meal, 
badly prepared; to stop at the different posts, inhabited by 
white people and visited by Indians, but for the adminis- 
tration of the sacraments, the visitation of the sick and 
the exhortation of the poor sinners ; such is, my Lord,. 
the life of the Missionaries on their way to the far West. 

For eight days we went up, Mr. Hargrave and I, the 
Ottawa river. We left it and went up another river to its 
source. That took us a whole day. After that came a 
portage, three miles in length, where is the heigth of the 
lands dividing the waters of the Ottawa from those flowing 
into lake Winnipeg. At the end of the portage, we came 
down a little river in one day. We were then on lake Win- 
nipeg, which we crossed in twenty-four hours. Walking 
next a little portage, we began to go down the French river, 
through which lake Winnipeg discharges its waters into 
lake Huron ; that also took us a whole day. The crossing 
of lake Huron to Sault St. Marie, lasted three days. From 
thence to Fort William on lake Superior, six days and a half. 
Leaving lake Superior, we ascended for three days, the 
Taministigouia river, up to a portage nine miles long, which 
is the height of land and divides the waters running into 
lake Superior from those flowing into lake Winnipeg and 
thence into the Hudson bay. After that long march, we 
embarked, near its source, on the river Des Embarras 
which flows into the JSLllle Lacs. We crossed the latter and 
also Lake Lapluie before reaching the Fort of the same 
name. Our journey from the height of lands to this post had 
lasted five days. It took us three days to go down the river 
Lapluie, two days to cross the Lac des Lots, three days to 
go down the Winnipeg, one day to cross lake Winnipeg, 
and another day to ascend Red river up to St. Bonifacius, 
residence of the Bishop of Juliopolis. 

Our Canadian and Iroquois travelling companions were 
exhausted. Mr. Hargrave no less than I, and that for 
good, reasons. For, very often, we would leave our camp at 
one in the morning and encamp only at about 7 or 8 in the 
evening. Many times we were exposed to great dangers, 



38 SKETCHES OF THE 

in the middle of lakes, or in coming down or going up 
rapids. The current used to set adrift our canoe on hidden 
rocks, and once our small bark canoe was nearly dashed to 
pieces on one of these hidden rocks. The mournful crosses 
to be seen above and below the rapids, are a sign of the 
dangers these places afford. 

According to my calculation of the hours of travelling, I 
counted .from Lachine to Matawan, 115 leagues on the 
Ottawa ; hence to Sault St. Marie, 134 ; on lake Superior 
140 ; from Fort William to the height of lands, 56 ; hence 
to lake Lapluie fort, 98 ; thence to fort Alexander, down 
the Winnipeg river, 120; and at last, from that place to 
St. Bonifacius, between 35 and 37 ; total 700 leagues, 
traveled in four hundred and eighty-eight hours or 33 days 
of forced marches. 

^ At the extremity of Lake Lapluie, I met the worthy mis- 
sionary of the Santeux, Eev. M. Belcourt, w T ho was then 
visiting the camps of that nation. I crossed lake Winnipeg 
on the 5th of June, and on the 6th I arrived at St. Bonifacius 
where I met Bishop Provencher, Eev. Thibeault and Eev. 
Demers, appointed to the mission of Oregon. Eev. Poire, 
missionary in the White Horse Prairie, came two days 
after. Eev. Belcourt returned from his mission on the 
14th. The 18th Eev. Poire left to accompany a caravan of 
800 or 900 w r agons going on a buffalo hunt. It was only 
after his return that this gentleman went to Canada with 
Mr. Belcourt. Eev. Mayrand arrived on the 22nd. 

It is easier to feel than to express the joys and emotions, 
the souvenirs and hopes caused by the meeting of those 
zealous laborers in the vineyard of the Lord. This was the 
most numerous gathering of priests ever witnessed by the 
inhabitants of these remote regions. The mustard-seed was 
beginning to appear as a vigorous tree, already shadowing 
a multitude of souls drawm from the darkness of idolatry and 
transplanted in the kingdom of God; precious fruits of the 
evangelical zeal animating these missionaries. Happy 
prognostics of a still richer harvest to be gathered. 

Having spent five weeks in visiting all the missions of 
Eed river, we started, Eev. Demers and I, on the 10th of 
July for our destination, after having sang a High Mass in 
honor of St. Ann, to ask from God the benediction of heaven 
on our journey; for we had to penetrate into a country 
never yet visited by a Catholic priest. The rivers, lakes, 
mountains, prairies, forests and hills of Oregon would soon 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 39 

resound with the praises of the Holy Name of Jesus ; the 
cross would be planted from place to place, from shore to 
shore, on a space of one thousand leagues which we had 
yet to travel, and the word of Him who said that that sign 
would attract all to Him in the person of these poor wan- 
dering sheep to which we were sent. What a joy! What a 
sweet consolation for missionaries ! 

From St. Bonifacius we went, in seven days of dangerous 
navigation," to Norway House, a small fortress, 130 leagues 
distant from our starting point, and ten leagues from lake 
Winnipeg. The commanding chief Factor had the kindness 
to give us for lodging and chapel the apartments destined 
for the Governor of the company. We spent there eight 
days, celebrating Holy Mass, distributing catechisims, bap- 
tizing the children and some adults, instructing and exhort- 
ing the whites and Indians of the Fort. We also performed 
two marriages there. On Saturday, the 22nd, there was a 
high mass, vespers and two sermons, to w r hich some of the 
gentlemen and clerks of the company assisted. Daring this 
brief stay of eight days, many small bands of travelers came 
from York Factory, on Hudson's Bay, to Norway House, 
from whence they were all to start together to cross the 
mountains. 

The 26th of July, everything was ready. The brigade 
assembled and began to march under the command of John 
Rowand Esq., Chief Factor of the Company, a Catholic, 
whose attention, kindness and constant efforts to alleviate 
the fatigues and privations of the route, we wiU never forget. 
The brigade consisted of ten boats laden with merchandise, 
a great number of hired men, women and children. Among 
the travelers were Messrs. Banks and Wallace, botanists, 
sent from England by a scientific society. 

Having passed the head of lake Winnipeg, the river 
Saskatchewan, or St. Peter, which we had to ascend for 37 
days, appeared with the Grand rapid that requires a portage 
of everything. We crossed the lakes de Travers, Bourbon, 
Ceclres and Vases. On Sunday, August 15th, we reached 
the little fort Constant, built on the right shore. We had 
travelled 93 leagues w T ith oar, perch, sail and line, having 
been often obliged, at the principal rapids, to unload our 
boats. We had baptized on the way a child who died an 
hour later. Having, that day, sang high Mass in the 
presence of the Cris Indians of the neighborhood w 7 ho 
appeared very well disposed to receive the seed of the Word 



40 SKETCHES OF THE 

of God, we started right away, and arrived on the 7th at 
Port Cumberland on the lake of the same name, 36 leagues 
from fort Constant, and on the 18th at fort Carleton, 88 
leagues from the last. There we performed 36 baptisms 
and 7 marriages. Among those baptized were the comman* 
der of the post, Mr. Patrick Small's family, composed of 
eight persons, of whom three were adults. At fort Pitt, 87 
leagues farther, we had eleven baptisms, and at fort Edmun- 
ton, also called Prairie fort, we had 39 baptisms, of which 5 
were adults, and 3 marriages. 

This last fort, whither we arrived on the 6th of September , 
is 101 leagues distant from fort Pitt, amidst the Cris. It 
would be quite fit to become a station for a missionary who 
would understand these Indians' language. Meanwhile, a 
priest could, in good weather, go on horseback across the 
prairies, from Eed river to fort Carleton in 15 days, hence 
to fort Eclmunton in 12 days, allowing time to stop at every 
fort along the road. His visit would do a great deal of good 
to the employees and to the poor Indians, with whom they 
trade in furs. On the 29th of September, Ave had at fort 
Edmunton. a solemn Mass and Vespers and two sermons. 
On the 10th, before leaving, we blessed and planted a cross. 
This we did all along the road, wherever we had said Mass, 
either near the forts or on the shore or in the interior along 
the road. 

For six weeks we had followed the crooked course of the 
Saskatchewan. We had then to quit it and to change our 
small fleet for a caravan of 66 horses, in order to reach, by 
land, across forests, ponds, prairies, rivers, ditches and beaver 
dams, Fort Assiniboine on the Athabasca, a distance of 
34 leagues, which required five days of fatiguing and dan- 
gerous walking. On September 16th., we left 'Fort Assini- 
boine and began to struggle against the rapids and dangers 
of the Athabasca, which we ascended for 17 days. On the 
28th, we saw for the first time the imposing forms of the 
Kocky Mountains, the highest summits of which are per- 
petually covered with snow. On the 2nd of October, we 
had come as far as Jasper's house, 4 leagues inside the 
Bocky Mountains, and were then 92 leagues from fort As- 
siniboine. There were there 35 baptisms, for the greatest 
part children of half breeds, or free people', living in the 
woods as Indians and hunting the beaver. Holy Mass was 
celebrated on the opposite side of the river, far from the 
noise of Jasper's. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 53 

every necessary can be supplied as cheap as in the United 
States ; this however must be taken with considerable lim- 
itation, and refers probably to the English goods in par- 
ticular. From hence the Company carries on a lucrative 
trade with California, the Sandwich Islands, and the Rus- 
sian settlements, besides its exports to England. 

The Company's servants are principally Scotch and Ca- 
nadians, but there is also a great number of half-breeds, 
children of the Company's servants and Indian women. 
These are generally a well featured race, ingenious, ath- 
letic, and remarkably good horsemen ; the men make ex- 
cellent trappers, and the women, who frequently marry 
officers of the Company, make clever, faithful, and atten- 
tive wives; they are ingenious needlewomen, and good 
managers. They frequently attend their husbands on their 
trading excursions, in which they are most useful ; they 
retain some pecuharities of their Indian ancestors, among 
which is the not unfrequent use of the mocassin, though 
usually it is made of ornamented cloth, instead of deerskin. 
The approach to this the principal establishment of the 

, Hudson's Bay Company in the west gives the stranger a 
high idea of its prosperity and importance; the thickly 
peopled village, the highly cultivated fields, the absence of 
all guards and defences, the guns of the fort having long 
since been dismounted, the civilized appearance of its in- 
terior, and the activity and energy which prevails, — the 
noble river, here seventeen hundred yards wide, on which 
perhaps some of the Company's vessels, brigs, or steamers, 
well appointed, manned, and armed, are at anchor, and 
these are heightened in the effect by the magnificent sce- 
nery by which it is surrounded ; the noble woods flanking 
the might} 7 stream, and backed by lofty mountains, the 
snow-covered peaks of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens 
towering over all ; while the wild flowers and fruits in their 

^season carpet the ground in wild luxuriance. 

This fort was established by Governor Simpson in 1824, 
and its present importance justified his selection of its site, 
Here is, and doubtless will continue, the chief trade of 
Western America, until the increasing demands of com- 
merce and national industry transport it to the shores of 
Juan de Fuca Straits and Admiralty Inlet; yet even then, 
as the only naval and mercantile station in South Oregon, 
and as receiving the trade of all branches of the Columbia, 
and having immediate and rapid connection with Puget's 



54 SKETCHES OF THE 

Sound by the Cowelitz and Nisqually, and with Gray's 
Harbour by the Chikelis — thus connecting the great fresh- 
water with the great salt-water navigation ; the Columbia 
with the Strait of Fuca— it will occupy only the second 
place. Sir H. Pelly, in his letter to Lord Glenelg, in 1837, 
gives this account of the state of the Company : — The Com- 
pany now occupy the country between the Rocky Moun- 
tains and the Pacific by six permanent establishments on 
the coast, sixteen in the interior country, besides several 
migratory and hunting parties, and they maintain a ma- 
rine of six armed vessels and a steam vessel on the coast. 
Their principal establishment and depot for the trade of the 
coast and interior is situated ninety miles from the Pacific, 
on the northern bank < >f the Columbia, and called Van- 
couver, in honor of that celebrated navigator ; in the 
neighborhood they have large pasture and grain farms, 
affording most abundantly every species of agricultural 
produce, and maintaining large herds of stock of every de- 
scription : These have been, gradually established, and it is 
the intention of the Company still further not only to aug- 
ment and increase them, and to establish an export trade in 
w 7 ool, tallow, hides, and other things, but to encourage the 
settlement of their retired servants and the immigrants 
under their protection ; and he asserts further, that the 
soil, climate, and other circumstances of the country, are 
as much, if not m,ore adapted to agricultural purposes than 
any other spot in America. 



Interesting Letter from Rev. Morteste Demers, to Rev. C. F. 

Cazeau, Sec'ty, Quebec. 

Vancouver, Oregon, March 1st, 1839. 
Rev. Dear Sir : 

When I was appointed to the mission of Ore- 
gon in 1837, together with the Very Rev. Father Blan- 
chet, the passage of the missionaries from Montreal to 
Fort Vancouver, across the American continent and in the 
canoes of the Hon. Hudson Bay Company, met obstacles 
which prevented their immediate departure. 

Bishop Provencher, who stood in need of a missionary, 
secured a passage for me to Red River. This was two thou- 
sand one hundred miles saved in my journey to Oregon. I 
was afraid, however, that when I should have acquired a 



CATHOLIC CHUBCH IX OREGON. 55 

knowledge of the language of the Santecmx, I would not 
be allowed to proceed on my journey if an opportunity pre- 
sented itself ; but Divine Providence took all difficulties 
out of the way, for as soon as the missionaries for Oregon 
had obtained a passage, Bishop Provencher allowed me to 
proceed, and I had the happiness of meeting with the Very 
Rev. Father Blanchet on Red River in 1838, on his pas- 
sage to Oregon. Leaving to the Vicar General the recital 
of the tales of his trip from St. Boniface to Fort Vancouver, 
I will give you an account of my ministry : For the last 
three months this Fort has, with the Canadians and Indians 
here, occupied all my time. I have found here some con- 
solation, God has given me the grace to learn the Chinook 
language in a short time. It is in this jargon that I in- 
struct the women and children of the white settlers, and 
the savages who come to see me from far and near. I am 
so busy from morning till night that I can scarcely find 
time to write the following concerning the savages who are 
settled on the west of the Rocky Mountains. I would ask 
therefore, all your indulgence ; as I merely passed through 
the different Indian tribes scattered along the Columbia 
from the Rock}^ mountains to the Pacific Ocean, the fol- 
lowing sketch must of necessity be very imperfect ; I hope 
however, it will be sufficient to make known to you those 
divers tribes, under the most interesting aspect — that of 
religion. My recent arrival in this country and the mul- 
tiplicity of my occupations do not permit me to give more 
than a faint sketch. Unwilling as I am to expose myself to 
the danger of giving false impressions and wrong informa- 
tion, I will wait until I may have acquired a more 
thorough knowledge of those unknown tribes. 

Lake House. 

The first savages we saw are called the LaJce Indians. 
These first of the Jarge fold committed to our care corre- 
spond well to the description given us of them by the Cana- 
dians, who had been for some time telling them of their 
own chiefs — the black robes — and had given them the hope 
that some of them would arrive and give them a knowledge 
of the Master of life, He who made them, "Kaekouten 
tshouten." We can easily imagine with what joy they re- 
ceived those chiefs for whom they had been so long waiting. 
F@r seventeen days we remained at the House of the Lakes 
and labored in this new vineyard, which promised from the 



56 SKETCHES OF THE 

very beginning of our visit to bear abundant fruit. After 
the first instruction on God and his attributes, on the Cre- 
ation, the fall of Adam and the necessity of baptism, those 
who had little children hastened to bring them for baptism, 
to have their hearts made good. They regretted that they 
themselves could not receive the same happiness. These 
Indians desire nothing more than to know God and the re- 
ligion that leads to Him : They anxiously long for the mo- 
ment when a priest may come among them to teach them 
the holy truths and maxims of our divine religion. It was 
not without grief that these poor people saw the missionaries 
leave them ; and on our part we were not indifferent to the 
expression of their warm affection. "Quomod audient 
Sine prcedicante . ' ' 

COLVILLE. 

In this fort we saw Indians belonging to five different 
tribes, who had come from the neighborhood to meet us. 
A barge which had preceeded us down the river, had brought 
them the news that the long expected chiefs were coming. 
Hardly could they perceive the barge in which we were, 
than they all, men, women and children, hastened to the 
shore with joy depicted in their countenances, to bid us 
welcome. It was not without emotion we saw this dem- 
onstration of their gratification. We had to tear ourselves 
away from them, to accompany the commandant to the 
fort. The chiefs of the Chaudieres, Cinpoils, Spokan, 
Piskoo us and of the Okanagaa with some of their people, 
received such instruction as our time would allow us to give 
them. All gathered together in a large house given to 
them for the occasion and waited in silence for the moment 
when we should speak to them. With what attentive, 
eagerness they listened to the Word of God, which being 
translated to them by the chiefs, acquired a new force and 
an additional weight. We forgot nothing that was calcula- 
ted to fortify them in the principles of the Catholic religion; 
thus, in a short time, we have scattered some of the seed of 
the divine word, and we have the sweet hope, that accord- 
ing to God's merciful designs it will bear fruit in this por- 
tion of the human family so long neglected. We easily can 
see what progress Christianity would make among tribes so 
well disposed, but fides ex auditu. 

The Ave tribes mentioned above, the Lake Indians and 
the Flat Heads, of whom we shall speak later, speak Ian- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 57 

guages so similar that they readily understand each other ; 
it would be enough to know one of these languages to 
speak all. The Lake Indians and the ChaucUeres are the 
most numerous of all. 

Okaxagax. 
During the twenty- four hours that we remained at this 
post we became acquainted with the Indians who frequented 
it; they are tolerably numerous. We may say of them 
what we have said of those mentioned above ; to make fer- 
vent Christians of them it would suffice to teach them the 
Christian doctrine. Nothing more is needed. Between 
Okanagan and Walla Walla we have seen only a few In- 
dian huts. For want of interpreters we could hardly make 
ourselves understood. 

Walla Walla. 

Some of the chiefs of the Cay use tribe had come together 
at this post to see the chiefs of the French (Canadians). 
All over, the same zeal and the same eagerness to know 
God, the same joy and satisfaction in seeing the black robes 
of whom they had heard so much. Without being Chris- 
tians, they firmly believe the truths of the religion we ex- 
plained to them by the way. They speak the language of 
the Nez Perces which is^altogethtr different from that of the 
ChaucUeres and of the Flat Heads ; they can converse with 
those of Walla Walla whose language is spoken as far as 
Des Chutes. Somewhat below are the Dalles Indians, who 
can speak with those of Des Chutes and of the Cascades, 
twenty miles distant from Vancouver. A great many of 
the Indians speak the Chinook jargon of which there will 
be mention later. 

Vancouver. 
The Chinook Indians are scattered along the Columbia 
river from this fort down to the Pacific Ocean. Before the 
year 1830 they were the most numerous tribe inhabiting the 
banks of this river. This rendered them proud and 
haughty. Beside this, they were rich : but about this time 
came the disastrous malady known by the name of fever- 
and-ague which carried a great many to their graves. In 
the heat of the fever they would leap into the river in the 
hope of relieving them of their suffering, but they found 
death as quick as it was certain. It was found necessary 
to burn a whole village where the dead bodies were piled 



58 SKETCHES OF THE 

one upon another ; for the survivors were not capable of 
burying their dead. This calamity which God sent these 
Indians on account of their abominable lives, came to visit 
them every year, and always made some of them its victims. 
We are told they reformed their lives, except those who 
live near the fort, who are wicked and demoralized on ac- 
count of their communication with the whites. They make 
a shameful traffic in crime ; they have female slaves whom 
they hire at a price to the first who asks them. They have 
seen us and see us yet with an indifference that makes us 
regret the good Indians of the Upper river; but the part of 
the tribe situated not far from fort George, (now Astoria) 
down the river, is not as depraved, which gives us the hope 
of being able to Christianize them, with the assistance of 
Him who wills that no one should perish, but that all 
should come to the truth. At the very moment I write 
this, I learn that their chief, with a great many of his men, 
hasjust arrived to see the French priests. A few days ago 
he had sent deputies to know whether they would instruct 
his Indians. 

The real language of the Chinook is almost unlearnable ; 
it differs entirely from that of all the neighboring tribes ; 
but they speak the jargon also, which is used as the medium 
between the Canadians and the whites in general and the 
Indians who are settled near the fort. The jargon is com- 
posed of words taken from different languages, disfigured in 
their orthography and pronunciation. It is all borrowed 
from different languages which makes it easy to acquire. 
It possesses only from four hundred to five hundred words. 
It has no participle : One and the same word has several 
meanings. For instance : Wawa, means to speak, to tell, 
to answer, to ask : Komtaks, means to know, to learn, to 
comprehend, to hear, to think and to believe ; thus, by 
adding JYaivitika, certainly; we have, Nawitlka JVaika 
kamtax Sahaletaye, I believe in God : hence it follows 
that it is not easy to translate French expressions into it. 
We have to use paraphrases. For the last month I know 
this jargon sufficiently well to give instruction and to teach 
the Catechism without being obliged to write them down. 
I have translated the Sign of the Cross and . the way to give 
one's heart to God. I cannot send the translation of the 
other prayers, as they are not quite finished. A good many 
of the Cascade Indians who understand this jargon, and 
some of the Klickatats, attend the catechism and evening 



CATKOLI . fiXJECH IX OKEGON. 59 

prayers*, In order to impress deeper upon their memory the 
truths contained in the Apostles' Creed, I have tried to 
arrange it to a certain air. The Indians love music very 
much ; they know nearly by heart the Canticles that were 
sung at the Mass on Sunday last. I expect to learn the 
Klickatat language, which will be of great use in instructing 
this tribe and those of Des Chutes and of the Cascades, who 
understand it well. The greatest difficulty in learning the 
language spoken on this side of the mountains, consists in 
the pronunciation which is such, that we are many times 
at a loss to find characters to represent it, as in Sahaletaye, 
God, hihkf, one. Time does not allow me to expatiate on 
this matter. 

The Indians of Qowutz.* 
The Indians of Cowlitz love with reverence the mission- 
aries who are established among them. They have a lan- 
guage of their own, different from that of the Chinook In- 
dians. They also speak jargon. They^are^iolerably nu- 
merous but poor. They give us hopes oitheir conversion. 
After the visit of the Vicar General, they said to the settlers 
of Cowlitz: "The priests are going to stay with us ; we are 
poor, and have nothing to give them : Tlahoiciam nesaika 
walk ekita nesaika: We want to do something for 
them, we will work, make fences, and whatever they wish 
us to do." Several of them came to see the missionaries at 
Vancouver, and expressed the most ardent desire to have 
them come and remain with them. 

Willamette Indians. 
The Vicar General who passed a month among the 
Canadians established on this river, could not speak highly 
of the Indians he had seen — the Kahwooias. They were 
very numerous before the fevers, but are now reduced to a 
small number, which keeps decreasing every day. They 
are poor and lazy; thieving may be considered as their pre- 
dominant passion. They wish to keep away from the mis- 
sionaries as much as the Cowlitz Indians wish to be near 
them. Hardly any of them were seen by the Vicar General 
at the chapel assisting at the instruction. But it seems we 
might succeed better among the different tribes of this na- 
tion who are settled on the tributaries of the Upper Wal- 

*Cowlitz is a corruption of the original Indian word Co-U 
lined by the early settlers. 



60 ". *" SKETCHES OF ' THE 

lamette. From these they take their different names. 
I leain that there are fourteen or fifteen different dialects 
spoken by these tribes ; they are not so essentially different 
but that they can understand each other. Moreover, the 
Chinook jargon is spoken among the Kalapooias. 

Northern Indians. 

In fort Okanagan we had information of a great many 
Indians who are settled at a great distance from the Rocky 
Mountains, toward the north. Some Canadians, in the 
service of the Hon. Hudson Bay Co., in those quarters, 
told us that priests would do well among them, although 
they are not civilized as those of the Columbia. We will let 
them know the object of our arrival in this country, but we 
cannot send word to them before next summer. 

The Nez Percez tribe is very numerous. They are mostly 
settled on large prairies, not far from the mountains towards 
the north. The Canadians who live among them for the 
purpose of obtaining the beaver fur* have for a long time 
spoken to them of the black robes — the chiefs of the French. 
Naturally good, mild, and full of respect for the prayer to 
the Master of life, they anxiously desire that priests may 
come to instruct them, and make known to them the re- 
ligion of the French. They have even imagined that they 
could buy one, and have enquired of the Canadians how 
many horses and beavers it would take to have one stay 
with them, saying, that "he would want" for nothing, and 
that the best of the spoils of the chase would be given to 
him." Good discipline and morals reign among them. 
May we not here exclaim with the Saviour of the world : 
Messis qiridem multa , operarii autempauci. What can 
two missionaries do among so many tribes but desire that 
the Lord may send missionary priests to show them the 
way to heaven, for which they had * been created, and to 
tell them that their souls are the price of the blood of the 
Saviour. Rogate ergo dominum messis ut mittat opera- 
rios in messem snam. 

Receive, Rev. Dear Sir, 

The assurance of my esteem, 

M. DEMERS, 
Missionary Priest of Oregon. 



catholic church in oregon. 61 

First Mass at Fort * Vancouver. Condition of the 
Country. 

November 25th., 1838, was beautiful as a summer 
day. It being Sunday, preparations were made in 
the school house for the celebration of the first Mass 
ever said in lower Oregon. The building was too 
small to contain the crowd composed of the gentle- 
men, ladies and Catholics of the outside camp. A 
solemn High Mass of thanksgiving was sung by the 
Vicar General who gave an instruction suitable for 
the occasion. Vespers also were chanted in the af- 
ternoon. The divine service of that day was moving, 
even to tears, as many of the Canadians had nOi 
heard Mass for ten, fifteen and even twenty years. 
That day was one for them that would never be for- 
gotten. They saw at last that they had priests 
among them, to instruct themselves, their wives and 
their children, to administer to them the sacraments 
and give them at the last and awful hour the conso- 
lations of the Holy Church. In all this they felt 
happy : and giving thanks to God, they were willing 
and ready to obey their pastors faithfully. 

It may be well to take a view of the country in re- 
lation to the Indian tribes, the servants of the Hud- 
son Bay Co. and Catholic and Protestant settlers, in 
order to have a correct idea of the condition of things 
in the mission entrusted to their care. Their mission 
extended from California (42°) to the Northern gla- 
cial sea, between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky 
Mountains. The Indian tribes were numerous, scat- 
tered all over the country, speaking a multitude of 
divers and difficult tongues, and addicted to polygamy 



62 SKETCHES OF THE 

and all the vices of paganisixf. The servants of the 
H. % B. Co. in active service in its 28 forts for fur 
trade, were in great majority Catholics ; so also were 
the four families settled in Cowlitz, and the 26 estab- 
lished in the Wallamette valley, with their wives 
and children. Many of the servants and settlers had 
forgotten their prayers and the religious principles 
they had received in their youth. The women they 
had taken for their wives were pagans, or baptized 
without sufficient knowledge. Their children were 
raised in ignorance. One may well imagine that in 
many places, disorders, rudeness of morals and 
indecency of practices,- answered to that state of 
ignorance. 

There were also found in the valley of the Wal- 
lamette some Protestant settlers, and in different 
parts of the country about 30 Protestant ministers, 
with their numerous attendants > their wives and their 
children. The Methodists had two missions, one in 
the Wallamette valley, and the other at the Dalles. 
The Presbyterians were established at Wailatpu 
among the Walla Wallas, at Lapwai among the Nez 
Perces, and on the Spokan river. Besides these, the 
H. B. Co. had its own chaplain at Vancouver for two 
years. These ministers were zealous, making efforts 
and using all means possible to gain converts to 
their sects. 

As to the Catholic settlers and their families, al- 
though considerably numerous, they were not only 
without any minister of their faith to teach them and 
their families the Catholic doctrine, but were more- 
over exposed to the most seducing temptations of 



CATHOLIC CHUECH IN OREGON. 63 

perversion : for, if on the one hand, they were de- 
prived of all the means necessary to practice the 
worship commanded by their faith and claimed by 
conscience, on the other hand, the practice of their 
separated brethren and the exhortations of the min- 
isters, were immediately at hand, as no pains 
were spared and nothing neglected to induce them 
to join the sects. 

Rev. Mr. Beaver, who arrived from England at 
Fort Vancouver as a chaplain, in 1836, was anxious 
to bring the Catholics of the fort to his Sunday ser- 
vice ; but he was checked by the good Dr. McLaugh- 
lin; nevertheless, he renewed his efforts after the Dr« 
left for England. And strange to say, a report came 
later that a list containing the names of Catholics 
begging Mr. Beaver to attend them, had appeared 
in one of the newspapers in London. No doubt 
this was a forged trick: but it is certain that he 
joined with the Methodists in saying : "No need of 
priests; I suffice here, and the Methodists in the 
Wallamette valley." As for the Methodist ministers 
we have seen before, they were visiting the French 
settlers, had succeeded in bringing some of them to 
their Sunday meetings, baptized some women and 
performed marriages. This being so, one may under- 
stand why the grant of passage by the H. B. Co. met 
with so much opposition. The first request of the 
Bishop of Juliopolis was refused. On a second ap- 
plication it was granted for two priests in the canoes 
of 1837, but was afterwards withdrawn, for the rea- 
son, no doubt, of not favoring an establishment on a 
foreign ground, but also in order to give the Pro- 



64: SKETCHES OF THE 

testant ministers more time to strengthen their posi- 
tion and to make proselytes. Hence, of the two 
missionaries appointed to start in 1837, only one was 
allowed to reach Red River that same year. Such 
was the situation of the country in 1838. Neverthe- 
less, in spite of all combinations and obstacles, 
the two Catholic missionaries, "Deojuvante" arrived 
safe, and were lodged in the room which Mr. Beaver 
and lady had left three weeks before for England. 

From the foregoing, it is easy to understand what 
the Missionaries had to do. They were to warn 
their flock against the dangers of seduction, to de- 
stroy the false impression already received, to en- 
lighten and confirm the faith of the wavering and 
deceived consciences, to bring back to the practice of 
religion and virtue all who had forsaken them for 
long years; or who, raised in infidelity, had never 
known nor practiced any of them. They were to 
teach the men their duties, the women and children 
their prayers and catechism, to baptize them, bless 
their unions, and establish good order and holiness 
of life everywhere. In a word, they were to run 
after the sheep when they were in danger. Thence 
their passing so often from one post to another — for 
neither the white people nor the Indians claimed 
their assistance in vain. And it was enough for 
them to hear that some false prophet had penetrated 
into a place, or intended visiting some locality, to 
induce the Missionaries to go there immediately, 
to defend the faith and prevent error from propaga- 
ting itself. 

In the mean time let no one imagine that all this 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 65 

was effected by enchantment; no, on the contrary, 
they had to make many journeys, and had to undergo 
much pain and patience in order to caution the flock 
against the dangers of seduction and error, to en- 
lighten the ignorant, to recall wavering consciences, 
and bring back to the true fold the lost sheep. One 
may well understand what time and pains were re- 
quired to come so far and that after having succeed- 
ed, it would not have been prudent to abandon them 
too soon to themselves. This said, let us now follow 
the two Missionaries in their undertaking. 

Missions to various places and among the Indians in 
1838 and 1839. 



Mission at Vancouver. — The Mission at this post 
lasted four months and twenty days, (from Nov. 24, 
1838 to April 15, 1839) without interruption, attend- 
ed by the two missionaries, save nine days spent by 
the Vicar General, on a visit to Cowlitz, and 34 for his 
going to and giving the mission at Wallamette. The 
Catholics of the place did not remain indifferent to 
the favor afforded them to have the promises of the 
Apostolic labors of the two priests ; they faithfully 
corresponded to the grace. The Missionaries took 
but two days to rest from their long and tedious 
journey, for, the fourth and fifth day after their ar- 
rival saw them at work; the first, in favor of the serv- 
ants and their families, the second, in favor of the 
ladies and their children of the Fort. On Monday 
the 26th, they were invited by the Governor to make 
a visit to the stores and depots of the Company in 



66 SKETCHES OF THE 

the Fort, of the clerk's office, houses of the Bour- 
geois, the clerks and their families. On Tuesday, he 
accompanied them on their visit to the village, which 
lies next to the Fort and contains the houses of the 
servants and their families. The census made, gave 
76 Catholics, Canadians and Iroquois. They especial- 
ly took the names of the men and women who were 
to be separated before being married. The Indian 
population on the shore of the Columbia and neigh- 
borhood was supposed to be 300 souls. 

The holy ministry began for the men and their 
families, on Tuesday evening by gathering them in 
the Fort, on that day and henceforth, in regular 
meetings, in which, after the evening prayer, made 
in common, a pious reading was made and some sa- 
cred songs were sung in French ; a practice which 
continued and was kept with the greatest satisfaction; 
in consequence of which the whole assembly was 
soon instructed to sing the first couplet of 50 Cantic- 
les, the men forming one choir, and the women, girls 
and children the other ; each choir singing alter- 
nately after the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c, couplet sung by 
the solus. These meetings became so attractive as 
to draw, on many occasions, the Bourgeois, clerks 
and their families to enjoy the pleasant and harmoni- 
ous concerts. The Indians themselves did not re- 
main insensible to the charms of these chants, nor 
where they the last to come and hear them in large 
number, sometimes 70 and 100. On Feb. 20th, 
1839, there were 140 assisting at the evening prayer. 

The holy work began for the ladies and little girls 
of the Fort on Wednesday, the 28th, by teaching 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 67 

thein their prayers and catechism in French. By 
persevering in this holy work, many of them soon be- 
came able to say the Rosary, a holy practice of de- 
votion in honor of the Immaculate Mother of God, 
which the two missionaries established in Oregon 
from the beginning. Rev. M. Demers, who made 
the beads, distributed fifty of them in a short time. 
The catechism was held in the forenoon. 

The afternoon was reserved for teaching the pray- 
ers and holy truths to the Indian women and chil- 
dren of the village, in order to prepare them for 
baptism. The difficulty here was great, as they had 
to learn these prayers in French, and the task could 
not be completed but by a long and tedious repetition 
of them for weeks and months. This catechism was 
frequented by sixty women and girls, and eighteen 
little boys. 

The Indians were not neglected; they were gath- 
ered twice a day, in the forenoon and in the evening, 
Rev. M. Demers, who had learned the Chinook Jar- 
gon in three or four weeks, was their teacher. Later, 
in January, having translated the Sign of the Cross 
the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary, into that idiom, 
he taught them to these poor Indians, who were 
much pleased to learn them. In February, he suc- 
ceeded in composing some beautiful canticles in the 
same dialect which the Indians, as well as the men, 
women and children, chanted in the Church with the 
greatest delight. Thus by patience and constancy in 
teaching, the Missionaries were pleased to see that 
their hard labors were beginning to bear some fruits. 

The forenoon catechism lasted generally from 8 to 



68 SKETCHES OF THE 

11 J o'clock; the afternoon one from 1 to 5, and some- 
times 6 o'clock. The interval was interspersed with 
singing Chinook canticles, teaching catechism, and 
some relaxation. While Eev. M. Demers was in- 
structing the Indians, the Vicar General taught the 
Canadians, and. gave instruction in French to the 
boys who were able to read English, so that by such 
means, some of them were soon able to assist in 
teaching the prayers and catechism to others. The 
Gregorian chant and serving at mass were not for- 
gotten; and it was after these exercises that the mis- 
sionaries heard the confessions of those who had no 
time to come during the day. By all this it may be 
seen that the two priests were far from being idle. 

Remarkable Conversion of Dr. John McLaughlin. 



It is but just to make special mention of the im- 
portant services which Dr. John McLaughlin — though 
not a Catholic — has rendered to the French Canadi- 
ans and their families, during the fourteen years he 
was governor of Fort Vancouver. He it was who 
read to them the prayers on Sunday. Besides the 
English school kept for the children of the Bourgeois, 
he had a separate one maintained at his own expense, 
in which prayers and the catechism were taught in 
French to the Catholic women and children on Sun- 
days and week days, by his orders. He also encour- 
aged the chant of the canticles in which he was 
assisted by his wife and daughter, who took much 
pleasure in this exercise. He visited and examined 
his school once a week, which was already formed of 
several good scholars, who soon learned to read 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 69 

French and became of great help to the priests. He 
it was, who saved the Catholics of the Fort and their 
children from the dangers of perversion, and who, 
finding the log church the Canadians had built, a 
few miles below Fairfield in 1836, not properly loca- 
ted, ordered it to be removed, and rebuilt on a large 
prairie, its present beautiful site. 

To that excellent man was our holy religion in- 
debted for whatever morality the Missionaries found 
at Vancouver, as well as for the welfare and temporal 
advantages the settlers of the Cowlitz and Wallamette 
valley enjoyed at that time. At the time the two 
missionaries arrived Dr. McLaughlin was absent, but 
was expected to return in the following September. 

The good work of that upright man deserved a 
reward; he received it by being brought to the true 
Church in the following manner. When he was once 
on a visit to Fort Nesqualy, "The End of Contro- 
versy," written by Dr. Milner, fell into his hands. He 
read it with avidity, and was overcome and converted 
at once. On his return to Fort Vancouver, he made 
his abjuration and profession of faith at the hands of 
the Vicar General, on Nov. 18th, 1842. He made his 
confession and had his marriage blessed on the same 
day; and prepared himself for his first communion 
by fasting during the four weeks of Advent, which 
he passed on his claim at the " Wallamette Falls," 
now called Oregon City, in having the place sur- 
veyed into blocks and lots. Being thus prepared, he 
made his first communion at Fort Vancouver, at mid- 
dight mass on Christmas, with a large number of the 
faithful women and servants of the Hudson Bav Co. 



70 SKETCHES OF THE 

Tlie little chapel was then full of white people and 
Indians; it was beautifully decorated and brilliantly 
illuminated; the plain chant was grave, the chant of 
canticles of Noel, in French and Chinook jargon, 
alternately by the two choirs of men and women, was 
impressive; as well as the holy performance around 
the altar; in a word, it was captivating and elevating to 
the minds of the faithful, commemorating the 
great day of the birth of our Saviour. It was on such 
an occasion that Hon. Petek H. Burnett, being at Van- 
couver in 1843, and attending High Mass as a specta- 
tor, at midnight on Christmas, received the first im- 
pression of his conversion, as mentioned in the pre- 
face of his book under the title of "The Path which 
led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catholic Church." 

From the time of his conversion till his death Dr. 
John McLaughlin showed himself a true and practi- 
cal christian, and a worthy member of the holy 
Church; never missing the divine service of Mass and 
vespers on Sundays and holy days; going to the 
holy table nearly monthly, and preaching strongly 
by word and example. On going to church each 
Sunday he was often accompanied by some Protes- 
tant friends; one of them inviting him to go and 
assist at the service of their church, he answered him: 
"No sir, I go to the church that teaches truth, but 
not to a church that teaches error." He was kind to 
his children and grandchildren, his son-in-law fol- 
lowing his example. 

He was born in the district of Quebec, Canada, 
and died at his residence at Oregon City on Sept. 3d. 
1857, aged 73 years; fortified with all the consola- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 71 

tions of the Church, after a lingering illness of two 
years, which he bore with christian patience and 
resignation, about three months before the return of 
Archbishop Blanchet from South America in 1847. 

Dr. John McLaughlin was the father of the orphans 
and servants of the H. B. Co.; the father of the 
French-Canadian colonies of Cowlitz and Wallamette 
valley; of all the American immigrants, and a great 
benefactor of the Catholic Church. In hearing of 
this great man, the Holy Father, Pope Gregory XVI. 
sent him the insignia of the "knights of the distin- 
guished order of St. Gregory the Great, which Arch- 
bishop Blanchet delivered him on his return from 
Europe in August, 1857. 

Missionary Labors at Fort Vancouver. 

After the arrival of the priests, the Lord's day had 
been sanctified by regular public services, consisting 
of a high mass with an instruction in the forenoon, 
and vespers and Sunday school in the afternoon: the 
chant at mass and vespers was the Gregorian, for 
some of the men were already able to sing the Kyrie, 
Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, or were soon able 
to do so. The chant of canticles in French by the 
choirs of men and women, as aforesaid, added not a 
little to the solemnity of the service. The large 
building granted for the purpose was generally full 
of Catholics, among whom were often seen a number 
cf non-Catholics. 

As to the Protestant service on Sunday, which w r as 
the Episcopal one, it was held in the large hall 
of the Governor's house and read by him. The 



72 SKETCHES OF THE 

American ministers who travelled pretty often and 
were always lodged and politely treated by the Gov- 
ernor and other Bourgeois, were seldom or never in- 
vited to hold the Episcopalian service on Sunday. 
Their singing with their wives in their rooms late in 
the evenings, on many occasions, was the means of 
drawing some of the ladies and children to hear 
them. 

Christmas Day, which in 1838 came on a Tuesday, 
and being observed as a general holiday by the Com- 
pany, the men had a chance to celebrate it. There 
were two low masses at midnight in the room of the 
priests at which some assisted. The high mass, 
vespers and instruction took place as usual on Sun- 
day. The music which accompanied the Gregorian 
chant at mass, and that of the canticles at vespers in 
place of the anthems after the Psalms, rendered the 
office of Christmas more solemn than usual; so that 
all returned home well pleased and contented. 

As the Company used to send over the Eocky 
Mountains in the beginning of March every year, an 
express to carry its papers to Canada, the Missionaries 
availed themselves of the opportunity to send to 
Quebec the history of their journey from Lachine to 
Vancouver, with an account of their labors during 
the journey and since their arrival, an item of which, 
extending to March 1st 1839 was; Baptisms, 309, 
Marriages, 61, Sepultures, 9. Out of the 309 bap- 
tisms, 175 were made on the journey and 134 since 
their arrival. Out of the 175, 122 were made on the 
east and 53 on the west side of the Rocky Mountains. 
Out of 134, 74 were from the Wallamette, 53 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IS OEEGOX. 73 

from Vancouver, and 7 from Cowlitz. Of the 61 
marriages, 25 were from the Wallamette, 24 from 
Vancouver, and 12 from the east of the Rocky 
Mountains. 

First Visit to Cowlitz Mission. 

According to an agreement made between the 
Bishop of Juliopolis and Sir George Simpson, Gov- 
ernor of the Hudson Bay Co., the principal station 
of the Catholic Missionaries was being fixed at the 
settlement of Cowlitz river, because it w T as not, like 
the Wallamette settlement, on a ground whose 
ownership was disputed by Great Britain and the 
United States. To the end, therefore, to show his 
willingness to carry out that agreement, and order 
the building necessary for a residence, the Vicar 
General accompanied by Augustin Kochon, a ser- 
vant brought from Canada, left Vancouver on Wed- 
nesday afternoon, December 12th, 1838, in a canoe 
paddled by four Indians, and reached the Cowlitz 
settlement on Sunday, the 16th, at 10 a. m. The first 
mass ever celebrated at that place was said on that 
day, and another one on Monday in the house of Mr. 
Simon Plamondon, before the settlers and their 
families, who were much pleased to learn that the 
priests were to reside among them. Having visited 
the place and chosen for the mission a piece of land 
of clear prairie of 640 acres, strewed only with some 
rare borders of timber, he left his servant there co 
square the timber for a house and barn, and to make 
rails for fences. 

The Cowlitz settlement has been five years in ex- 
istence. It is on the west side of the river, in a 



74 SKETCHES OF THE 

prairie, six miles long and two miles broad, bounded 
on the east by the river, and on the west by a large 
quantity of timber. It is a very fine location for a 
colony. Its soil is rich and fertile; grass, fishing, 
and game are in abundance. The situation is beauti- 
ful : in the northwest appears Mount Rainier, and 
Mt. St. Helen on the east, whose high peak is always 
covered with snow. The Hudson Bay Co. has a 
farm there on which a large number of men are em- 
ployed in farming on a large scale. The young col- 
ony was then composed of only four Canadian far- 
mers, whom Dr. McLaughlin had discharged from 
further long services. The Cowlitz river runs from 
north to south and empties into the Columbia; it is 
very tortuous and full of snags, which renders its 
navigation difficult and dangerous, especially for 
small craft, and by reason of its numerous rapids of 
dangerous ascent. 

Having made seven baptisms, given to the men the 
necessary advices, and recommended Mr. Fagnant, 
one of the farmers, who was able to read, to teach 
the prayers and catechism to the women and chil- 
dren, the Yicar General left on Tuesday morning, 
the 18th, and reached Vancouver on Thursday, the 
20th, at 4 30 p. m. Governor Douglas had the po- 
liteness to go and meet him on the shore with Rev. 
M. Demers, on his arrival. On his way up and down 
he visited some Indian lodges to announce to them 
the arrival of the Blackgowns who come to speak of 
the Great Spirit and make them good. 

First Mission to the Wallamette Valley. 

This mission lasted about thirty days; from Jan- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. (D 

uary 5tli 1839 to February 4th. This valley takes its 
name from the river which flows through it from 
south to north. It is a continuance of large and 
level prairies strewed with timber which is found speci- 
ally along the banks of the streams. The east shore 
of it may well be called the granary of Oregon, the 
western shore being generally mountainous. The 
settlement of this valley began as follows : There re- 
mained in the country three Canadians, remnants of 
the old expedition of Hunt and Astor, viz: Etienne 
Lucier, one of the former, and Joseph Gervais and 
Louis Labonte of the latter. Etienne Lucier being- 
tired of living a wandering life began in 1829 to cul- 
tivate the land near Fort Vancouver, and getting dis- 
satisfied with his first choice, he left it in 1830, and, 
removing to the Wallamette valley, settled a few 
miles above Champoeg, then, called by the Canadians 
'•'Campement de Sable." Following his example the 
two others, Joseph Gervais and Louis Labonte fol- 
lowed him in 1831 and settled some distance south 
of him, one on the right and the other on the left side 
of the river. Some old servants of the Hudson Bay 
Co., being discharged from further services, went over 
to them and increased their number, The good and 
generous Dr. McLaughlin encouraged the colony 
and helped it all in his power. It continued to grow 
up every year, and its settlers began to feel the ne- 
cessity of having some priests to reconcile them to 
God, and also to instruct their wives and children. 
The nearest bishop they could apply to was at Red 
River. They sent him a petition in 1834, asking for 
priests. Their request was without success, so they 



76 SKETCHES OF THR 

renewed tlieir petition in 1835, and this time it seem- 
ed they were to be heard, for the Bishop of Juliopo- 
lis obtained, in 1836, a passage for two priests in the 
canoes of 1837 to Oregon. But in the interval of 
the appointment of the missionaries, other reflections 
superseded the first; and on remarks being made 
that, as there were in the country Anglican, Methodist 
and Presbyterian ministers, the difference of teaching 
might create dissentions among the Indians; for this 
reason and perhaps to give them time to proselyte, 
the grant of passage was withdrawn. But having 
made new efforts the Bishop obtained the claimed 
passage in the canoes of 1838, hence their arrival and 
their labors at Vancouver. 

The Catholics of the Wallamette valley were very 
anxious to see among them at least one of the 
priests they had so earnestly asked for. On the day 
appointed for going, two large canoes from the 
valley, conducted by two of the most respected citi- 
zens of the colony, Mr. Etienne Lucier and Mr. 
Pierre Beleque, were ready at Vancouver for depar- 
ture. The Vicar General, leaving to Rev. M. De- 
niers the charge of continuii^* the mission of 
Vancouver, started on Thursday, January 3d, at three 
p. m. 

The Wallamette Fall, 

a beautiful fall of 30 feet, across the river, which re- 
quires a portage of canoes and baggage for a quarter of 
a mile, was passed early on Friday; and on Saturday 
at 10 a. m. the campement de Sable, (Champoeg) was 
reached. The four miles from thence to- the log 
church (for there was a church already) were made 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 77 

on horseback. And as Mr. Lucier and Mr. Beleque 
were neighbors, and on his way, the Vicar General 
stopped and visited their families, who were so glad 
to be the first to see the priest and see him in his 
true ecclesiastical Hole, or Soutane, which the two 
missionaries continued to wear in travelling, at home* 
and in the town of Oregon City till 1849. 

That church made of logs was built in 1836, as 
soon as they had any hopes of having priests. It 
was a building 70 feet by 30, built on a prairie, on 
the eastern side of the river, and the road going to 
Champoeg. The Vicar General took possession of a 
part of the church, at the back of the altar, measuring 
12x30, which being afterwards divided by an alley 
of 6 feet, gave sufficient accommodation for two bed 
rooms on one side and a kitchen and dining room on 
the other. Later, in order to make room for some 
orphans, the alley became the cooking place. The 
afternoon of that day was spent in receiving visits, 
as all, especially the women and the half-breed boys 
and girls were very anxious to see the priest so long- 
announced and expected. That day was indeed a 
day of joy and tender emotions to all. 

The following day, January 6th, being Sunday and 
the Epiphany of our Lord, the church was blessed 
under the patronage of the great Apostle St. Paul, 
after which was celebrated the first mass ever said in 
the valley, in the presence of all the Canadians, their 
wives and children. It was surely a great day for 
them all; for the Canadians who had not seen a 
priest, nor heard a mass for 10, 20, 30, and some nearly 
forty years; and for their wives who were at last be- 



78 SKETCHES OF THE 

holding one of those priests their husbands had so 
long ago spoken to them about. Sweet and touch- 
ing indeed were the sentiments these Canadians ex- 
perienced on seeing themselves at the foot of an 
altar, of the Cross, and before the face of a priest. 
These poor Canadians were overjoyed, and the wo- 
men were amazed in beholding the priest, at the altar 
in sacerdotal vestments and prayer. The holy 
Sacrifice of the Immaculate Lamb of God was offered; 
the pastoral letter of the Bishop who had heard their 
voice and sent them priests, was read; the command- 
ments of God and of the church were published, as 
well as the rules to be observed during the mission; 
and all terminated with reflections and advices which 
were very touching on both sides. All went home 
happy and willing to obey the Church, even in 
regard to separation from their wives until their 
unions would be blessed. And so great was their 
desire to have their wives and children instructed 
and to lose nothing of the instructions given, that 
they brought them from home to live in tents around 
the church. The men would not do less; those 
living the nearest came every day to hear mass and 
passed the whole day at the church, returning home 
in time to attend to their business and prevent the 
wasting of their crops by their hired and slave In- 
dians. Those who lived farthest away remained 
several days before returning home, sleeping in the 
large hall not yet divided by an alley. And let no 
one suppose that in that season, the people had to 
suffer from the inclemency of the weather; not at 
all; for the weather was so extraordinarily fine and 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 79 

mild, and so similar to the month of May in Canada, 
as to make the good Canadians say; "The Good God 
has pity on us; it is for us that he has sent this 
fine weather." 

The exercises were commenced every day by the 
celebration of mass with an instruction, after which 
followed the recitation of the prayers in French, the 
explanation of the Apostle's creed and the most 
important truths of religion, intermixed with singing 
of canticles, from mass till 12 a. m., and from 1 to 4 
p. m. And as the women did not all understand 
French, and there were among them a variety of 
tongues, some being of the Chinook, others of the 
Colville and Flathead tribes, the difficulty was over- 
come by using different interpreters to convey to 
them the words of the priest. At dusk, took place 
the evening prayers, the reading of pious books and 
singing of French canticles: after which, some boys 
were taught to read in French and serve at mass. 
There was at that time in the valley a young man, 25 
years of age, born in Havre de Grace, France, called 
Pierre Stanislas Jaequet. He left the sea which he 
entered at the age of 11. That young man became 
useful by knowing how to read and teach the prayers, 
while the priest was hearing confessions of the men, 
who had to come more than once, and those of the 
little boys and girls, to accustom them to the 
holy practice. The men had also to be examined and 
re-affirmed in their prayers, but they generally were 
found to have retained them in a surprising manner. 

The instructions and teaching of prayers lasted 
three weeks. The fruits of the mission tvere con- 



80 SKETCHES OF THE 

soling; for many of the Indian women and a number 
of grown boys and girls, and young children had 
learned to make the sign of the Cross, the offering of 
the heart to God, the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary, 
the Apostle's Creed and some of the Acts; 25 Indian 
women were baptized in excellent dispositions, and 
their unions with their husbands blessed by the 
church; 47 other baptisms of children were made; 
to which, if we add those two of an old In- 
dian man and a young Indian girl, both sick, who 
soon died, and were the first buried in the new cem- 
etery, we will have 74 baptisms and 25 marriages; 
the 26th couple, being that of a Canadian, married in 
the valley by the Rev. D. Lestie, without the certifi- 
cate of the death of his wife he had left in Canada, 
the Vicar General ordered and obtained a separation. 
Hence only 25 marriages instead of 26. 

Besides the altar fixed in due time, the Vicar 
General had a communion rail made to separate the 
sanctuary from the nave, a cross fixed on the gable 
of the church, an acre of ground chosen and fenced 
and blessed for a graveyard with a high cross in the 
centre, and small wooden crosses were blessed for 
each house. The six first couplets of canticles which 
had been learned, and were daily sung at mass with 
some taste and delight by the men women and chil- 
dren, were earnestly recommended to be sung at 
home. The two missionaries saw with great pleasure 
their advice put in practice. In fine, taking the 
fourth and last week of his mission to rest a little, 
the Vicar General went and took possession of a 
tract of ground of 640 acres for the mission, and went 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 81 

around the whole establislirnent to visit the settlers, 
who received him with the greatest demonstrations 
of joy and thanks to God for the consolations of 
religion they had received; their joy, nevertheless, 
was greatly lessened in not being allowed to keep 
among themselves, at least, one of those they had 
called for. But they expected that this would not 
last long, and that their good father, Dr. McLaughlin, 
would obtain a change. Having given them five 
Sundays, the Vicar General started on Monday, the 
5th of February and reached Vancouver on Tuesday 
at 5 p. in., where he remained at work with Rev. M* 
Demers till the 14th of March. 

The Tree Name of our Rev^r. 

It is fit to explain here, why, in the foregoing par- 
agraphs, the name of our river is called Wallametie, 
rather than Walla met or Willamette, as many call it 
now. The reason is obvious: it is because WaUametle 
is the true Indian name, whereas Wallamet and Wil- 
lamette are but corrupted and fabricated ones of 
modern date. Proofs are not wanting to show that 
from 1812 to 1842, the principal persons in the 
country, either American of Astor and Hunt's expe- 
dition, or British, or Scotchmen, or French Canadi- 
ans of the North West and Hudson Bay Companies, 
always spelled the name with an c: a" in the first 
syllable, and a fC tte" in the last one, thus: WaUam- 
ette. The letters "mette" not to be pronounced 
"inet" as in the French word bouquet', but as "niette" 
in the French word gazette. It was thus spelled by 
the gentlemen of the H. B. Co., Dr. John McLaugh- 



82 SKETCHES OF THE 

lin, James Douglas and Peter Ogden, when the 
Methodist, Presbyterian ministers, Catholic mission- 
aries and many other American citizens arrived here 
in 1834, 1836, 1838 and 1840. Hence the numerous 
disciples, who adopting the name of our river as 
spelled by them, made a faithful use of it before 
1840, and long after 1842, and even as far down as 
1848; and one even to 1859, because convinced of it 
being the genuine name; and all that, notwithstanding 
the strong prevailing use of the spurious one of 
Willamette. Witness the following instances. 

Rev. Jason Lee, who arrived in the country in 1834 
signs, in 1844, with Dr. McLaughlin and others, a 
document in which the word is sj)elled Wallamette. 
David Leslie, W. H. Wilson and George Gray, who 
came here in 1837, Sidney Smith in 1839, and A. _F. 
Waller and L. H. Judson in 1840, say they are living 
in the valley called Wallamette Young and Car- 
michael, addressing the Oregon temperance society, 
date their letter from Wallamette, Jan. 3, 1837. Eev. 
G. Hines who came here in 1840, in his history of 
Oregon, in 1859, on all occasions, calls our river by 
the name of Wallamette. Dr. E. White, w T ho arrived 
here in 1836, when writing as sub-agent of Indian 
affairs to the secretary of war in 1843, always dates 
his letters from the Wallamette valley. Josiah L, 
Parrish and A. F. Waller, who arrived here in 1840, 
as Methodist ministers, affirm that the name of the 
river is an Indian one, to be spelled with an c *a" in 
the first syllable. 

The Catholic missionaries on their arrival at Van- 
couver in 1838, received also the name with its or- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON . 83 

tography from the same gentlemen, and always used 
it in their long correspondences' at home and abroad, 
from 1839 to 1848, dating their letters from or ad- 
dressing them to: "St. Paul of Wallamette." So did 
the Sisters of Notre Dame, Belgium, from 1844 to 
1853. The gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Co. did 
likewise, in all their transactions and writings: thus, 
their bills of supplies to the Catholic mission, from 
1839 to 1847 were always headed: f "Catholic Mission 
of Wallamette or of Wallamette falls." Rev., Mr. 
Beaver, who was chaplain at Vancouver, from 1836 
to 1838, having returned to England, in a certain 
deposition made in London in 1849, calls our river 
by the name he had learned during his stay at Van- 
couver, Wallamette. 

First Mission to Cowlitz, Washington Territory, 

1S39. 

The first mission to Cowlitz was begun by the 
Vicar General on [March 17th, 1839, and continued 
until the 1st of May following. Arriving at the set- 
tlement on the evening of March 16th., the Vicar 
General was accomodated by Mr. Simon Plamondon 
with a room for bis own use and also an apartment 
18x25 feet to be used as a chapel. Besides the four 
farmers and their families forming the colony, there 
were a large number of servants, employed on the 
farms of the H. B. Co., some of them having 
wives. The mission commenced on Passion Sunday 
with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the publication 
of the law of God and the precepts of the Church — 
on which an instruction was given. Mass was cele- 



84 SKETCHES OF THE 

brated every day at 6 a. m., during which an in- 
struction was given. The rest of the day was devoted 
to teaching the Catechism and canticles to the 
women and children in French. In the evening all 
assembled in the chapel where evening prayers, an 
instruction, and singing hymns preceded the hearing 
of confessions which continued long into the night. 
The Indians were instructed at stated intervals every 
day. The ceremonies of Holy week made a deep 
impression on all who attended, and the mission was 
fruitful in good results. 

The news of the arrival of the Missionary at Cow- 
litz caused numerous delegations of Indians to come 
from remote distances in order to hear and see the 
black govm. Among these delegations was one le*d by 
a chief named Tsla-lakum, whose tribe inhabited 
Whitby Island, Puget Sound, 150 miles from the 
Cowlitz mission. After a journey of two days in 
canoes to Fort Nesqualy, and an arduous march of 
three days on foot, across streams and rivers and by 
an exceedingly rough trail, they reached Cowlitz with 
bleeding feet, famished and broken down. Their 
object was to see the blackgown and hear him speak 
of the great Spirit. As soon as they were refreshed 
the Missionary began to speak to them of God, of 
the Incarnation and Eedemption. But the 'great 
difficulty was how to give them an idea of religion 
so plain and simple as to command their attention, 
and which they could retain in their minds and carry 
back with them to their tribe. In looking for a plan 
the Vicar General imagined that by representing on 
a square stick, the forty centuries before Christ by 



CATHOLIC CHURCH I# OREGON. 85 

40 marks; the thirty three years of our Lord by 33 
points, followed by a cross; and the eighteen cen- 
turies and thirty-nine years since, by 18 marks and 
39 points, would pretty well answer his design, in 
giving him a chance to show the beginning of the 
world, the creation, the fall of angels, of Adam, the 
promise of a Savior, the time of his birth, and his 
death upon the cross, as well as the mission of the 
Apostles. The plan was a great success. After eight 
days explanation, the chief and his companions be- 
came masters of the subject; and, having learned to 
make the sign of the cross and to sing one or two 
canticles in Chinook jargon, the}' started for home 
well satisfied, with a square rule thus marked, which 
they called: Sahale stick, (Bois d'en haut.) That 
plan was afterwards changed from a rnle to a large 
chart containing the great epochs of the world, such 
as the Deluge, the Tower of Babel, the ten com- 
mandments of God, the 12 apostles, the seven sac- 
raments and precepts of the Church; these being 
very useful to enable the missionary the teaching of 
the Indians and whites. It was called, "The Catho- 
lic Ladder.'' 

The fruits of this long mission w 7 ere very consoling. 
The women, grown boys and girls, had learned their 
prayers in part, and some of the catechism; and the 
younger children, some part of their prayers. The 
first strophe of several canticles, in French and Chi- 
nook, had been learned, and were sung alternately by 
the two choirs of men, women and children, after the 
chant of the other strophes by a solus. By that 
means, the offices, on Sunday, at mass and vespers, 



8G SKETCHES OF THR 

were rendered pretty solemn and attractive. The 
number of baptisms were 28, of which, 20 were In- 
dian children, and 7 were adult women; thus in 
adding the 7 made in December last, we will have 34 
baptisms made at Cowlitz, 7 marriages blessed, and 
large numbers of Easter Communions. 

The winter season of 1838-9 had been so exception- 
ally beautful as to allow the farmers to plow and 
sow without interruption. On the 5th day of April, 
the prairies were blooming with wild flowers and 
strawberries. On the 7th the grass was 6 inches 
high. Augustin Rochon, the servant of the mission, 
brought from Canada, had in no way remained idle; 
he had made 6,000 rails for fences, squared the 
timbers for a house and barn, which were to be 
hauled on the mis&ion land as soon as he could get a 
yoke of oxen. The settlers of Cowlitz and their fam- 
ilies were extremely pleased to have the visit of Rev. 
M. Demers, during the mission of the Vicar General 
there. This visit was due to the following circum- 
stances : — 

First Mission at Fobt Nesqualy. 

About the 8th of April, 1839, Rev. D. Leslie, a 
Methodist minister, arrived at Cowlitz en route to 
Nesqualy where he intended establishing a mission 
among the Indians. This information at once 
prompted Vicar General Blanchet to despatch an In- 
dian express to Father Demers at Vancouver, asking 
him to proceed at once to Nesqualy in order to plant 
the true seed in the hearts of the Indians there. Fa- 
ther Demers left immediately and reached his desti- 
nation in six days, during which he was drenched 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 87 

with a cold and continuous rain. He was welcomed 
with great politeness by Mr. Kitson, the commander 
of the fort; a house was appropriated for the purpose 
of a chapel, and he at once entered upon the object 
of his arduous journey. The Indians flocked from 
all sides to see the great chief of the French and re- 
ceive his instructions. An unforeseen incident how- 
ver, came near preventing the mission begun under 
oach favorable auspices. The commandant was un- 
willing to allow a vast crowd of Indians to enter the 
fort, and ordered them to stay outside of the pali- 
sades. One of the Indians, bolder than the rest, 
dared to force an entry and was pushed back rather 
roughly by Mr. Kitson, hence the beginning of a 
riot, which might have become fatal, if the appear- 
ance of the Missionary had not appeased that un- 
tamed multitude. Vv^ho shall not here admire the 
holy influence of religion in the person of an humble 
priest over an enraged multitude of Indians, on his 
simple appearance among them? Such is the in- 
fluence of religion. 

Father Demers was then obliged to go out of the 
fort to teach the Indians, who, during the whole 
time of the mission, gave him evidence of their most 
perfect docility to his advice. The first mass was 
celebrated in the presence of the commander and 
other persons of the fort. Among the throng there 
were counted Indians of 22 different nations. All 
the days of the man of God were devoted to his 
dear neophytes. To celebrate the divine offices, 
teach the Christian prayers, administer baptism to 
children, explain to the Indians the dogmatic and 



88 SKETCHES OF THE 

moral truths of religion, to hear the confessions of 
the Canadians; such were the occupations which 
absorbed the days and part of the nights of the 
priest during the ten days the mission lasted. 

Monday, the 29th of April, was to the servant of 
God a day well calculated to indemnify him plenti- 
fully for his long and painful journeys and mission- 
ary labors; for on that day, Mrs. Kitson the wife of 
the commander, after having followed the instruc- 
tions with much attention, and practiced with fervor 
the exercises of piety prescribed to her, had the 
happiness to open her eyes to the light, and receive 
the gift of faith and the grace of baptism. The fol- 
lowing day, the 30th, being the day fixed for his de- 
parture, was a day of mourning for the poor Indians 
of Nesqualy. Men and women flocked around him 
to entreat him to remain among them and to show 
him the deep sorrow which his too untimely parting 
caused them. They went so far as to promise him 
perfect docility to his advice, and that, if polygamy 
was an evil in the eyes of the Great Spirit, they 
would forthwith conform themselves to his will. 
Deeply touched by these admirable effects of the 
grace of God, Father Demers encouraged them to 
perseverance, and consoled them the best he could 
for having to leave them, giving them to understand 
that he parted with them to obey God who was call- 
ing him elsewhere, where sheep were to be brought 
to the fold; and that he would soon return to them 
and prepare them for baptism. After having given 
orders to build a chapel, and said mass outside of 
the fort, he parted with them, blessing the Lord for 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 89 

the success of his mission among the whites and 
Indians, and reached Cowlitz on Monday, the 30th., 
with the conviction that his mission at Nesqualy had 
left a very feeble chance for a Methodist mission 
there. Brother Wilson, whom minister Leslie had 
left orders with to build a house, on a certain piece 
of land, must have been greatly despondent at being 
witness to all he had seen. 

The fruits of this unexpected mission were, 13 
baptisms, 2 of which were adult women, the rest 
being children, and 2 marriages. This mission was 
made so short because Rev. M. Demers was bound 
to be at Vancouver to meet there the brigades of 
Xorth and South, and prepare himself for his mission 
to the upper Columbia. The Yicar General having 
completed his mission at Cowlitz and given his orders 
for the building of the priest's house, prepared to 
start for Vancouver. 

Second Mission en the Wall amette Valley. 

The two Missionaries left Cowlitz, Thursday, May 
2nd, 1839, for Fort Vancouver, Father Demers desir- 
ing to visit the Catholic settlement at St. Paul's, 
which latter place they reached in safety by means of 
a canoe propelled by the stalwart arms of four Indi- 
ans. Father Demers at once started on horseback to 
visit all the settlers, but was obliged to relinquish his 
journey and return again to Vancouver in conse- 
quence of a violent cold wilich he caught on his 
former journey to Nesqualy. "Whilst there he had 
the pleasure of receiving two large cases rilled with 
goods intended for the Mission which had been for- 



90 SKETCHES OF THE 

warded from Canada, and which were greatly needed. 
Among the gifts was a beautiful folio edition of 
the bible presented by Rev. Antoine Parent, of the 
Seminary of Quebec, and w T hich was greatly admired 
by all who saw it. 

On arriving at St. Paul the Vicar General learned 
w T ith much surprise that his first mission at St. Paul 
had caused quite a commotion among the Methodist 
preachers who had a missionary station about twelve 
miles south of the Catholic settlement. The cause of 
this excitement arose from the fact that the Vicar 
General had re-baptized and re-married a number of 
persons who were officiated over by the Methodist 
ministers ; a number of Catholics withdrew also 
from the temperance society and prayer meetings of 
the Methodist brethren. These acts aroused all the 
ire of the ministers who deeming themselves and 
their office ignored, determined to be revenged; 
but before doing so they endeavored to make prose- 
lytes among the Catholics through means of Rev. 
Daniel Lee's preaching and praying in some of their 
houses. Rev. David Leslie next got up a revival, 
but it was barren of any fruits. As a dernier resort a 
complaint was made to Governor Douglas relative to 
the influence which the Catholic Missionaries were 
using in order to keep the lambs of the flock out of 
the clutches of the Wesleyan w T olves. The Govern- 
or, however, told his informant very curtly that "it 
was none of his business." Thus, finding themselves 
foiled at every point, the preachers had recourse to 
their usual weapon of slander and falsehood. A 
copy of an infamous publication entitled Maria 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 91 

JlonJc, was circulated among the community ; this 
work pretended to give "awful disclosures" concern- 
ing confession and convent life, and was filled with 
stale slanders and exploded inventions. The circu- 
lation of this obscene book caused considerable feel- 
ing among the Catholics and the Vicar General found 
on his return an excited community where all was 
peace at his former visit. 

The Vicar General's attention was at once directed 
towards allaying the excitement by a simple explana- 
tion of the vicious causes which led the Methodist 
ministers to cast such a firebrand among a peaceable 
and happy community. He proved the work to be a 
tissue of falsehoods and calumnies which had been 
refuted over the signatures of some of the most re- 
spectable Protestants of Montreal where the scene 
of its shameless relations was laid. The Canadian 
settlers naturally became indignant at the vile artifice, 
hypocrisy and ingratitude of the Methodist ministers 
whose lives they had been the means of saving but a 
short month before. It appears that an Indian had 
stolen some wheat and being discovered he was se- 
verely beaten at the Methodist mission: his tribe 
threatened to massacre the people at the mission 
which so alarmed Rev. David Leslie that he hastened 
at once to the Canadians begging them to use their 
influence with the Indians to save them, which the 
Canadians did most effectually. Finally, the Metho- 
dists discovering that their efforts to malign their 
Catholic neighbors were recoiling upon their own 
heads they quietly withdrew the vile book which had 
caused so much trouble and learned afterwards to 
live in amity with their neighbors. 



92 SKETCHES OF THE 

The second mission given at St. Paul's, by the 
Vicar General, lasted thirty days, and was attended 
with great zeal by the surrounding settlers, their 
wives and children. The Catholic Ladder was found 
very useful in imparting instruction, as many of the 
neophytes did not understand French sufficiently 
to be instructed in that language. It was also ex- 
posed in the church on Sundays and fully explained 
to the congregation who listened with the most re- 
sj>ectful attention. 

During the mission the Vicar General had the 
consolation of receiving into the fold of Christ Mr. 
Montour, a former clerk of the Hudson Bay Co., to- 
gether with his wife and children. This gentleman 
proved a most zealous convert, assisting with the 
greatest devotion at all the offices of the church on 
Sundays and week days. On the Sunday within the 
octave of Corpus Christi all the congregation united 
in a grand procession in honor of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment; repositories were erected and an avenue of 
trees planted, through which the large multitude 
passed in regular order. Thus, this mission pro- 
duced great spiritual results, and the Vicar General 
left for Vancouver on the 7th of June, well pleased 
with the earnest piety of the congregation of St. 
Paul. 

The Brigade of the North Mission of Father 
Demers to Fort Colville in 1839. 

The Hudson's Bay Co's. brigade of the north, was 
styled des porleurs in consequence of the men being 
obliged to pack the baggage on their backs for want 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 93 

of horses, started on June 22nd 1839. It consisted of 
a flotilla of nine barges manned by fifty-seven men 
under the command of Chief Factors Ogden and 
Black. A passage was offered to one of the mission- 
aries with this brigade as far as Walla Walla, and as 
the Indians at Fort Colville had been told by the 
missionaries that one of them would return again for 
the purpose of instructing them in the faith, Father 
Deniers was selected for that duty, leaving to the 
Vicar General the vast -missionary field already open 
along the waters of the Columbia, the Wallamette, 
and Puget Sound. 

Arriving at Walla Walla Father Deniers procured 
a guide expecting to make the trip to Colville in six 
days; in this, however, he was doomed to disappoint- 
ment as his guide proved treacherous and left him 
alone before half the journey was accomplished, which 
necessitated him to send back for another guide, and 
thus fourteen days were consumed on the journey. 
After this delay and having surmounted many diffi- 
culties, Father Demers arrived at Fort Colville where 
he entered at once on a mission which lasted for 
thirty-three clays and resulted very beneficially to the 
employers of the H. B. Co., as well as to the numer- 
ous Indians gathered around the fort. On his re- 
turn trip he also gave an eight day mission at 
O'Kanagan and spent two weeks at Walla Walla to 
the great joy of the assembled Indians and the few 
whites employed around the fort. 

The Brigade of the South. Second Mission to Cow- 
litz. 
The brigade was composed of a large number of 



94 SKETCHES OF THE % 

servants, trappers of the H. B. C, returning from 
California with horses laden with fur. It arrived at 
Vancouver June 15th, and was to return in three 
weeks, with horses packed with provisions and goods, 
for the trade of the following year. Several of the 
servants had wives and children to be baptized, in- 
structed and married. The task became onerous on 
the Vicar General, as this was in addition to the or- 
dinary duty of teaching of the ladies and children of 
the fort and others. He undertook it heartily, say- 
ing Mass early and dividing his time between them 
all: there were made 44 baptisms, of which 13 were 
adults, and the same number of marriages, amongst 
vvhich were those of Mr. Michel Lapramboise, the 
conductor of the brigade, and Mr. Joseph Mclaugh- 
lin, son of Dr. McLoughlin. The brigade left July 
13, having to camp between 50 and 60 times, making* 
4 leagues a day, before reaching their trapping 
places. In Southern Oregon it had to pass through a 
very warlike, wicked and treacherous race of Indians, 
waiting in ambuscade for the purpose of robbing and 
killing animals and men, on all occasions. Hence 
the name of Zes Coquins (the Rogues) given to them 
and La Riviere aux Coquins (the Rogue river) given 
to the country, by the men of the brigade. 

After attending to the spiritual wants of the bri- 
gade of the north and south, the place to be visited 
next was the Cowlitz settlement. The Vicar General 
reached that place on July 20 ; and as he had learned 
that a building had been erected on the mission 
land, he directed his steps there, and took possession 
of a little 30x20 log house in which he celebrated 
Mass the following day. It was roofed, and had an 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 95 

addition for a kitchen at one end, but was without 
floor, doors, and windows. It took some time before 
this could be done, or the joints of the logs could be 
filled with earth, as the farmers were busy at their 
harvest. He found there also a barn of 60x30 raised, 
roofed and ceiled around, ready to receive the crop of 
6 bushels of wheat and 9 bushels of peas, sown last 
spring. Augustin, the laborer, had fenced 
24 acres of land, and ploughed 15 others, to be sown 
next fall ; so that the missionary of that place was 
assured of his daily bread. 

The log house was used as a chapel, under the 
patronage of St. Francis Xaverius, and a lodging for 
the priest till 1842. The priest, in having his mod- 
est bed on the Gospel side of the sanctuary, was 
more fortunate than the young Samuel, who had his 
own in the vestibule, away from the sanctuary. The 
daily teaching of the women and children commenced 
as soon as the harvest was over. The Catholic Ladder 
was used here, for the first time, with great profit to 
all, on the week-days and on Sundays. Augustin 
Rochon, the servant of the mission, had run a great 
danger, some time after the departure of the Vicar 
General, in the beginning of May. He had bought 
a^horse from an Indian and paid the price agreed; 
the Indian, displeased with his bargain, came back to 
have his horse again, which Augustin refused: hence 
a strife, in which he was stabbed by the Indian; 
fortunately, there was present a half-breed who, seiz- 
ing the stick Augustin had thrown to the ground in 
order to have free use of his hands, soon made the 
Indian run away. This mission lasted 40 days. 



96 SKETCHES OF THE 

The first mission to Nesqualy was made by Father 
Demers, who celebrated the first mass in the fort on 
April 22, the day after he arrived. His visit at such 
a time was forced upon him by the establishment of 
a Methodist mission there for the Indians. His mis- 
sion was a success; and, it now being the time to go 
and consolidate the good already done there, the 
Vicar General left Cowlitz, reached fort Nesqualy on 
Aug. 30, and began his mission of 12 days. The fort 
contained five families, including that of Mr. Kitsen, 
the commander and his servants, numbering in all 
36 souls. The men attended mass at 5 in the morn- 
ing, and had other exercises in the evening; their 
commander leading them the example though not a 
Catholic. 

The forenoon was devoted to women and children 
of the fort, teaching them their prayers and explain- 
ing the catechism, with the aid of the Catholic Ladder. 
Some of the women able to speak only Nesqualy, 
Chinook jargon, and Flathead, Mr. Kitsen, who 
understood those languages, besides French and En- 
glish, was very useful as an interpreter. Some of the 
women on the outside were allowed to assist at the 
exercises, and at the end of the mission the women 
and children were able to answer many questions on 
God, Holy Trinity, Incarnation and Redemption; all 
had learned to sing the first couplet of five French 
canticles, and two in Chinook. 

The afternoon was devoted to the teaching of the 
Indians, who were few in the beginning, but con- 
tinued to arrive in canoes every day, until they num- 
bered at least 300. Twice was the Vicar General 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 97 

obliged to allow a number of men and women to 
come and have the satisfaction of touching his hand, 
the mothers brought their children on their backs 
for the same purpose. Among other chiefs was 
Tslalakom, one of the 12 who travelled from Whitby's 
Island to Cowlitz, in April last, in order to see the 
Blackgown. Instructions out of the fort were given, 
first in a large tent, and afterwards in the open air, 
under the shade of a tree. All were looking at a 
large Catholic Ladder, hung up on a pole, the points 
being shown with a long stick. Among the remarks 
made by some of the chiefs was that of Tslalakom: 
'•That man Xoah had more children than the first 
man Adam.'' It was a beautiful sight in the evening 
to look from the inside gallery of the fort on the 
Indian camp with its numerous bright fires, and to 
listen to the harangues of the chiefs on the subject 
which had been explained to them, and the duty of 
their listening to the great chief of the French. 
S me of them soon learned to make the sign of the 
cross in Chinook jargon, and to sing the first couplet 
of two canticles in the same dialect. Two Indian 
ildren only received baptism, because the parents 
were afraid of that medicine. There were 6 baptisms 
and 2 marriages were made. Mass was celebrated 
on the last Sunday outside of the fort, in a repository 
made of matting, to give the Indians an opportunity 
ing the great ceremony; the men sitting on 
their mats in a semicircle in front of the altar, and 
the women behind them. At the mass as well as at 
3, the two choirs of men and women made 
und with the chant of their canticles. 



98 SKETCHES OF THE 

And so amazed were the Indians, that after the ser- 
vice was over, they remained still long before 
leaving their places. Poor Bro. Wilson who, from a 
sailor boy had become a preacher, Avas lookiDg at 
this Catholic demonstration at the hands of the In- 
dians, with no small astonishment. 

Shoet Re-union of the Two Missionaries — Objection 
to the Residence at the Wallamette, Raised 
— Parting- of the Missionaries for Winter Quar- 
ters. 

The Vicar General left Nesqualy on Thursday and 
reached Cowlitz on Saturday Sept. 14; and leaving 
this place four days later, he arrived at Vancouver on 
the 20th., where he was joined,on Oct. 1st, by Father 
Demers, returning from his mission of 3 months and 
10 days to the upper Columbia. The result of his 
mission, as to baptisms, was as follows: at Colville 37; 
of whites 12, of Indians 25; at OKanagan 19; of 
whites 4, of Indians 15: at Walla Walla 5; of whites 
2, of Indians 3: en route 12 Indians were baptized, 
making the number of baptisms 73 — 18 whites, and 
55 Indians. The joy of their re-union was increased 
by the good news that Governor Douglas had com- 
municated to the Vicar General on his arrival there, 
and which, on request, he later gave in writing, viz: 
Fort Vancouver, Oct. 9th., 1839. 

My dear Sir: I am directed to inform you that the 
governor and committee have no further objection to 
the establishment of a Roman Catholic Mission in 
the Wallamette; and you are therefore at liberty to 
take any means you may consider necessary towards 
the promotion of that object. I Remain, My dear 

Sir, Yours very truly, James Douglas. 

VervRev. F. N. Blanchet, V. G. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH EST OREGON. 99 

It was on the representations the good Dr. 
McLoughiin had made, on his late journey to Lon- 
don, that the objections to a residence were raised. 
On hearing this fact, the two missionaries began to 
prepare themselves for departure. And being ready 
to start on Thursday Oct. 10th., they bade adieu to 
their endeared congregation, to the ladies and gen- 
tlemen of the Fort, and to Governor Douglas, tender- 
ing him their warmest thanks for the generous, 
hospitality they had received; and, starting in canoes 
they went down the river and landed at the mouth of 
the Wallamette, where they had supper together, 
after which they parted for their winter quarters; 
Father Demers for the Cowlitz, and the Vicar General 
for the Wallamette mission, which he reached early 
on Saturday, while his dear confrere reached his mis- 
sion but on Sunday, owing to the heavy load in his 
canoe, and the many dangerous rapids on the river. 
On the day after his arrival he blessed the bell he 
had brought with him, which weighed 501b, had it 
set up 40 feet from the ground, and began to ring the 
Angelus three times a day. The Vicar General who 
had also brought one which weighed 801b, had it 
blessed two days before Christmas, and began to ring 
the Angelus three times a day, in honor of the 
Incarnation, and glory of Mary Immaculate. 

The hall of 30x12, separated from the altar by a 
partition, needed the loose floor to be fixed, the 
ceiling and some partitions had to be made; a man 
undertook the job, which he performed in three 
weeks. Dr. John McLaughlin had arrived at Van- 
couver from Europe, by the express boat, on Oct. 18. 

Lot 



100 SKETCHES OF THE 

His visit to the Wallametfce settlement was warmly- 
greeted by all as a father. Great was the joy of the 
people of the two missions, in having a priest to re- 
main with each of them. Great also was the joy of 
all in having a high midnight mass, at Christmas, in 
both churches, which were full to completion. 
This closes the labors of the missionaries in 1839. 

Sketch of the Cowlitz Mission by Rev. M. Demees. 



Cowlitz, Feb. 5, 1840. 
To Rev. F. C. Cazeault, Secretary, Quebec. 

My dear Sir: Having returned on the 1st of Octo- 
ber last from a mission I had given during the summer, 
in the upper part of the Columbia, I could not have 
the pleasure of staying very long with the Vicar Gen- 
eral. I had to leave him on the 10th of the same 
month to take charge of the mission on the Cowlitz 
river, which Rev. Blanchet had left in order to be at 
Vancouver during the month of September. This 
separation did not take place without sorrow as we 
were leaving each other not to meet again for four 
months; but it was imposed upon us by need and 
duty. In effect, the permission of settling perma- 
nently in the Wallamette had been granted to the 
great advantage of its daily augmenting Catholic 
population; the Cowlitz mission had not to be ne- 
glected either, and it was assigned to me. Having 
left Vancouver both on Thursday, 10th of October, 
we took supper together at the mouth of the Wallam- 
ette, after which each one went his way in order to 
be in his respective place on the following Sunday, 
which I could not do, notwithstanding all the efforts 
of the men and the active part I took in the labor. 
I had with me a half-breed named J. B. Boucher and 
three Indians : my canoe was large and contained a 
large quantity of luggage, among which was a bell 
weighing 50 or 60 pounds. I was therefore dej rived 



CHURCH IX OIU- 101 

of the happiness of celebrating mass and my people 
of hearing it. As soon as they heard 1 was coming, 
all flocked to meet me. They welcomed me and 
carried my baggage to my residence. After my in- 
stallation I went with my people to p ay tribute to a 
cross erected near by. 

The following day, Oct. 14, a frame ,/as erected, 
the bell blessed and place in a position 40 feet above 
the ground. I considered it an honor to ring the 
first Angelus myself. A consecrated bell was heard 
for the first time in the valley of the Cowlitz as well 
as in the whole extent of this vast country. Imagine 
a log house 30x20 feet, having roof like a wolfs head, 
no ceiling, and a floor levelled with an axe, and you 
will have an idea of the place where I spent the win- 
ter. It was also my chapel. They had decided on 
building another house and had even planed the 
lumber during the preceding winter, but instead of 
that they determined to erect, with the same kind of 
wood, a chapel 60 feet long, and to leave the same 
house to the priest until he could get a better one. 
The Cowlitz mission has still but eisfht families in- 
eluding those of the H. B. Co., altogether 46 persons, 
exclusive of a few Indians who lived with the French, 
and a greater or smaller number of employees accor- 
ding to the need. Three days in the week were set 
apart for the instruction of the Canadians' wives and 
children; the three others were given to the Indians 
and to the study of the Cowlitz I 3 which is 

very difficult for a beginner. 

The young men and the Indians who, live with the 
French, being unable, on account of their work, to 
attend during the day, I was obliged to give them 
part of the nights. For 1 \ or 2 hours I was kept 
busy teaching them their prayers, reading, the an- 
swers at Mass and the way to serve it, also the Plain 

Chant. 

At midnight mass, on the festival of Christmas, they 
were able, by the means of repeated exercises, to hon- 



102 SKETCHES OF THE' 

or the birtli of our Saviour, by uniting their voices to 
those of the angels in the Gloria in excelsis. Soon af- 
ter this, they could help the priest in singing the Cre- 
do. The young men of this mission, as well as all 
the half-breeds in general, who were instructed at 
Fort Vancouver, owe to the kind dispositions and de- 
voted cares of Dr. John McLaughlin the knowledge 
th^y have of the letter of their Catechism before 
the coming of the missionaries; a benefit which is 
surely not the least amongst those the Canadians re- 
ceived at his hands, and for which they owe him 
eternal gratitude. 

Experience has taught us not to rely too much on 
the first demonstrations of the Indians and not to 
rely much on the first dispositions they manifest. 
Those of the Cowlitz promised better success. Every- 
where we meet the same obstacles which always re. 
tard the conversion of the Indians, namely polygamy , 
their adherence to the customs of their ancestors 
and, still more, to tamanwas, the name given to the 
medicines they prepare for the sick. This tamanwas 
is generally transmitted in families and even women 
can pretend to the honor of making it. If any one 
is sick they call in the medicine-man. No danger 
of their asking him what he wants for his trouble; 
they would be afraid of insulting him. Whatever he 
asks is given to him, without the least objection; 
otherwise they may fear everything from that doctor, 
who will not fail to take his revenge for a refusal by 
sending some misfortune, or some sickness, or even 
death through his medicines to the one who refused 
him, be he 50 leagues off. If any one is dead, such 
a one killed him; then let him look out on whom the 
least suspicion falls; his life is in the greatest dan- 
ger; the least they will do to him will be to kill his 
horses, if they do not kill himself; and to force 
him to give all that he has, through fear of death. A 
serious quarrel took place lately on that account. 
Hand play is also very common among them, they 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 103 

get excited arid often end it with a quarrel. They 
add idolatry to infidelity. They paint on a piece of 
wood a rough likeness of a human being and keep it 
very precious. They believe these charms have a 
superior power and strength, and they pray to them. 
When they have exhausted all the resources of the 
tamanwas, which often makes the evil worse, and the 
sick man dies, they scarcely allow his eyes to close 
before they are covered with a pearl bandage; his 
nostrils are then filled up with aikwa, a kind of shell 
they use for money; he is clad with his best clothes 
and wrapped up in a blanket; four posts are driven 
into the ground; in these posts holes are bored, 
through which sticks are passed, upon which is 
placed the canoe destined to receive the corpse 
placed in file with his ancestors. They place him 
face downward with his head pointing toward the 
mouth cf the river. Not a handful of dust is laid 
upon him; the canoe is covered with a great number 
of mats and all is over. Then, they present their 
offerings to the dead. If he was a chief or great 
warrior amongst his men, they lay by his side his 
gun, his powder horn and his bag: valuable objects, 
such as, wooden plates, axes, kettles, bows, arrows, 
skins &c, are placed upon sticks around his canoe. 
Then comes the tribute of tears which the spouses 
pay to each other and to their children. Day and 
night for a month or more, continuous weeping, 
shouting and wailing may be heard from a great dis- 
tance. When the canoe gets rotten and falls on the 
ground, the remains are taken out, wrapped up in 
new blankets and laid in a new canoe. They cling 
so much to this kind of sepulture that during the 
winter, a child (baptized) having died without my 
knowledge, I could not induce them to take him out 
of the canoe in order to give him christian burial. 
This adhesion to burial rites and tamanwas will 
cause the missionaries to be more prudent in bap- 
tizing. We have learned not to trust the repeated 



104 SKETCHES 0E THE 

promises they make to us not to have recourse to the 
tamamoas if the baptized child gets sick. You may 
see that progress has been very slow among them so 
far; their customs and habits are so inveterate that it 
will take a long time, for religion and the fear and 
knowledge of God, to unroot and destroy them entire- 
ly. Polygamy is not as widely spread now as it used 
to be. But there is in both sexes a fearful immorali- 
ty. It is kept up and often taught by the whites 
who, by their scandalous conduct and boundless de- 
baucheries, destroy the impressions made by the 
truths of religion. 

This year the mission will lend to the Indians seed 
to sow in garden patches, especially peas and pota- 
toes. Perhaps they will then try to come out of the 
miserable state they are languishing in, when they 
will see chat, with a little trouble and labor, they can 
ameliorate it. The peas and potatoes may make 
them forget the grains and camas. Time unables 
me to give greater extent to this sketch. 

I am &c, M. Demers, Priest. 

Missionary Labors in 1S40. Missions to Yaxcoever, 
Nesqualy, V^hedby Island, Chinook Point, Brig- 
ades, COLVILLE, AXD FlRST COMMUNION AT St. PAUL. 

Wearied with a separation of four months, Eev. 
M. Demers left Cowlitz, on Feb. 7th, for St. Paul, 
which he reached on the 17th, having had to brave 
wind and rain, cold and snow, and spent three days 
in his journey to Vancouver, where he stopped four 
days, and three other days on his way to St. Paul. 
He remained but 8 days there, his presence being 
much needed at Vancouver, where he arrived on the 
25th, in order to oppose the efforts minister Daniel 
Lee was making amongst the Indians of the Fort 
from January. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 105 

To deny the necessity of baptism is to deny the 
existence of original sin ; and to deny the existence 
of original sin is to deny the necessity of a Redemp- 
tion, and declare that religion is a fable; for such 
are the consequences following from the denial of 
original sin : and, alas, such was nevertheless the 
horrible and damnable doctrine which the Methodist 
ministers of VVallamette preached formerly to the 
Canadians, saying : "A child is saved and is a King 
in the kingdom of heaven without baptism, ; the 
adults are also saved if their hearts are good," and 
mge to say, that minister who had failed with his 
co-ministers to convert his countrymen and the Ca- 
nadians, did not leave the fort before giving, by 
aspersion, such a sham baptism to Indians ignoring 
God, Holy Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption and 
any prayers ; and who, in reaching the mission at 
the Dalles, did the same with ignorant and polygam- 
ist Indians, giving to them bread and wine. 

Rev. M. Demers dividing his time between the 
servants, women and children of the whites, and the 
Indians, taught them all. and had but little trouble 
to undeceive the latter, with the help of the Catholic 
Ladder ; and to bring them back from the erroneous 
road of Protestantism. His mission lasted 38 days, 
after which he returned to Cowlitz in Ar>ril 5, having 

J. o 

been 57 days absent. 

The Vicar General having prepared his letter for 

the express leaving for Canada, left St. Paul on 

March 10. and reached Vancouver on the same day, 

ause of the strong current of the high water; that 

er made. One item of his 



106 SKETCHES OF THE 

report to Canada was : from March 1839 to March 
1840, were made 204 baptisms, 35 marriages, 14 
burials and one abjuration at St. Paul. Of the bap- 
tisms, 73 on the Colville mission, 71 at Vancouver; 
30 at Cowlitz; 19 at Nesqualy and 11 at St. Paul. 
The Vicar General left St. Paul on May 4th on a 
journey to Cowlitz, in order to deliberate with Rev. 
M. Demers on the plan of the summer campaign. 
At Vancouver he had the pleasure to open two cases 
of books, church ornaments and other effects, coming 
from France; and on the 9th, the two missionaries 
were embracing each other; but the consolation of 
meeting together did not last long, by reason of the 
Vicar General, being called by letter to visit some 
person that was sick, had to leave on the 14th for 
Nesqualy, where he found Mr. Kihen, the command- 
er of the fort, sick in his bed. The exercises of the 
mission at this fort commenced without delay, aud 
lasted from the 16th to the 27th of May; the fore- 
noon being devoted to the instr action of the women 
and children of the Canadians, and the rest of the 
day to the Indians, outside of the Fort. Mrs. Kitson 
being kind enough, as usual, to serve as interpreter. 
She having showed the Indian women how to make 
for themselves, robes of dressed deer skin, they ap- 
peared this time, dressed like the vihite women. All 
were regular at the instructions. In visiting the 
lodges in the evening, the Vicar General was pleased 
to see the improvements made, in making the sign of 
the cross, singing Chinook canticles and repeating 
what they had learned. 

On May 18th, Chief SaJwwamUh arrived with a 
band of his people. One of them being sick with 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 107 

consumption, was prepared for baptism, when one 
day, Iris companions moved by a superstitious fear, 
carried him away: It took two days to over- 
take him and bring him back. He was baptized 
with his 8 children, at the age of 40; and* afterwards 
showed much faith and resignation to the will of 
God. The missionary expected to see, at the mis- 
sion, three other chiefs, called Tslalakom i JS'etham i 2in^i 
WUskalatche; but the murder of a man by a Soekwa- 
mish, having rendered travelling on that bay danger- 
ous, they did not come. The priest was much con- 
soled on seeing the eagerness of the Indians to come 
at the first bell, to listen to the explanation of the 
Catholic Ladder and words of eternal life, under the 
shade of a large tree. 

The Yicar General was preparing to close his mis- 
sion and return to Cowlitz, when on the 26th of May, 
a canoe arrived containing 6 Indians; they were 
chief Tslalakom's men and wife; sent by him, and 
directed to bring the priest to see him and his tribe, 
as he was sick and unable to come himself; and in 
proof thereof, his wife presented Vicar general with 
a skin sheath, which was found to contain the square 
rule (Sahale stick) he had received on his visit to 
Cowlitz, in April 1839. Thanking God for the door 
opened to him, the Yicar General started, on May 
27th, in a canoe of his own, landed at different 
places in the bay, to address the words of salvation 
to the Indians ; and arrived the following day, the 
Ascension day, at Tdalakom village, on the western 
shore of Whidby Island. A battle had taken place on 
that very same day between his tribe, the Skckxca.mish > 



108 SKETCHES OF THB 

and the Klcdams of Townsend Land, in which the lat- 
ter, who were the aggressors, lost two men, because, 
said Tslalakom, " these men do not know God, nor 
pray to him/' He had tried to stop the fight, but in 
vain. He had been protected by the cross he wore 
on his neck. All this explained the strange move- 
ment of the Indians, running on the shore and calling 
"Who are you" {qui vive) on seeing the two canoes 
coasting along the island. 

The priest, in his black gown, was received with 
the greatest demonstrations of joy by Tslalakom and 
his tribe, and his baggage seized and carried to the 
village, on the high land, 50 feet above the level of 
the bay. On Friday, May 29th, an altar was pre- 
pared in a repository made with mats; a rough board 
was the altar table; the vestments for mass and sa- 
cred vessels were exposed; a Catholic Ladder, 6 feet 
by 15 inches, was fixed on a mat and hoisted high on 
a pole, before the eyes of all. "I then began the in- 
struction by making the sign of the cross in Chinook 
jargon, says the Vicar General in hfe relation to the 
Bishop of Quebec, and to my great astonishment, all 
the assembly, men, women, and children, made the 
same, pronouncing the words exactly as practical 
and fervent christians. I began to sing the first 
couplet of a canticle in Chinook jargon, to the air of 
1 ' Tu vas remplir le voeu de la tendresse" and, behold, 
to my great astonishment, all continued 'to sing it to 
the end, with exact precision. I began to sing ano- 
ther one in the air "je mets ma conjiarice,^ and to my 
increasing great astonishment they all continued the 
stroph rendering it as well as the first one. I ad- 



:::.:: church in Oregon. 109 

mired the success TslalaJcom had had in teaching his 
people; I blessed the Lord for the good dispositions 
of these poor Indians. My joy was great so as to 
move me even to tears, which, nevertheless I tried to 
contain before the crowd." 

"I was then dressed in surplice, with a stole, and 
beginning the explanation of the Catholic Ladder, 
when chief WUskatehe arrived with a band of his 
tribe from another part of the island, and came to 

ke hands; chief Nettam soon came also with his 
bands. All the chiefs sat in front, the rest behind 
and on the sides. That was indeed quite a large 
meeting. I then began to dress for mass, and to 
exjDlain the mass, the great prayer of the Catholics. 
In the whole assembly making the sign of the cross 
and singing the aforesaid couplets of canticles, I be- 
came convinced that Nettam and WUskatehe had not 
done less than Tdalakom with their tribes. The 
Catholic Ladders distributed at Nesqualv, the pre- 
ceding year, had been used and explained, and the 
chant of canticles practiced. The two canticles were 
repeated alternately daring the whole Mass. In ad- 
miration of what I heard and saw, I thought I was in 
heaven, rather than in an Indian country. Tears of 
joy fell again from my eyes. An infinite satisfaction 
had been offered to God for the sins of these poor 

►pie. There was a hope. Obher bands of Indians 
arrived after Mass, and among them a Klalum who 

»ke in favor of peace. I continued the instruction 

night, and the day ended by prayer, rosary, and 

the chant of canticles. The body of the Kldm killed 

in the is found and buried by the old men, for 



110 SKETCHES OF THE 

the young men would not touch a corpse, fearing that 
it would shorten their days." 

On Saturday, May 30th, a large number of Indians 
arrived from various parts of the island, who showed 
themselves as attentive to the instructions and as col- 
lected at Mass, as the day before. Desiring to visit 
the Island, I directed my steps towards the north, 
passed through beautiful prairies, forests of large 
trees, fields of potatoes, made with no other instru- 
ment than a curved stick, and arrived at the house of 
NetAum, situate on the eastern point of the Island. 
It was a house made of logs, 30x20, ceiled, and fur- 
nished inside with a tapestry of mats, with an open- 
ing in the center to let the smoke out. Netlum re- 
ceived me with great attention and showed me the 
place to sit down on a pile of folded mats. There 
was no polygamy in this house, as generally prac- 
ticed by the other chiefs. I regretted very much to 
have no time to instruct, baptize and bless this in- 
teresting couple. After prayer and chant of canti- 
cles, I went to the shore and found 15 lodges of In- 
dians, who had never seen the blackgown. In seeing 
me, they cried out, and placing themselves in a line, 
men, women, and children, to the number of over 
150, they came to touch my hand, a ceremony of 
etiquette; after which they made the sign of the 
cross, and sang the Chinook jargon canticles, which 
they had learned, as well as the other tribes. I ad- 
vised them to come to Mass and to bring their chil- 
dren for baptism on the following day. I left them 
full of joy in order to return to my tent, where I 
found a large reunion of Indians, who listened at- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. Ill 

tentively to my instruction, which was protracted late 
in the evening, notwithstanding a high wind, the 
noise of the waves and foliage. 

On Sunday, May 31, Netlum arrived early with his 
band of Skachates, their women and children. Next 
appeared at the head of his band, the S?iehomish, ac- 
companied by inferior chiefs, Witskalatche, sur- 
named Le Francais, clad in full French costume, 
trowsers, shirt, vest, overcoat garnished with quills 
of porcupine, hat and cravat. Tslalakom came also 
with his band of Sockwamish; all placed themselves 
according to rank, to the number of 400. The exer- 
cises of the preceding day were repeated with the 
same spirit and zeal as on the previous day, before 
and during holy mass. My emotion was great at the 
sight of such a multitude of Indians, so eager for the 
kingdom of heaven; and at the chant, so pure and so 
expressive by the many voices, whose accent so nat- 
ural, seemed to me to surpass in beauty the harmony 
of the most learned compositions of music masters; 
it was so great that I could not master it. 

The holy mass being over, the dinner of salmon 
and smoked deer I had ordered, were served on mats 
before the chiefs: all were filled with joy: then fol- 
lowed the great smoking of the calumet of peace and 
union between the tribes. In the midst of the joy. 
ous and noisy chatting, was heard a great crying out; 
all rose up and saw a heavy wooden cross, twenty-four 
feet long, in the anns of numerous Indians who were 
advancing towards the spot prepared for it; it 
being solemnly blessed, and erected, all following 
the example of the Uackgovm, went and prostrated 



112 SKETCHES OF THE 

themselves and venerated it. Then followed the 
chant of canticles by this joyous multitude of Indians 
rendering homage to God and Jesus Christ, for the 
first time. To this moving spectacle succeeded 
another one, the baptism of the children. The mo- 
thers and the children were placed in two lines, 
leaving an alley in the center for me to move, and 
also for the fathers of the children. I again explain- 
ed the fall of man, the mystery of redemption, the 
medicine of baptism. I required of all a profession 
of faith and an abjuration: and all were loudly an- 
swering: "Yes, we believe in God who created all 
things. Yes, we believe in Jesus Christ, who came 
to redeem us. Yes, we believe He has made seven 
medicines to make us good. Yes, we believe He 
has made but one road to heaven. Yes, we promise 
to keep and follow the road of the MacJcgoion, which 
is that Jesus Christ made. Yes, we reject all other 
roads lately made by men. Yes, we renounce the 
devil, his thoughts, words and deeds. Yes, we de- 
sire to know, love and serve the great master of all 
things." 

Then began the ceremonies of solemn baptism, 
which lasted four hours, during which time I bap- 
tized ,122 children. The heat was very oppressive; 
the children were scared, and crying, and soon all 
retired. 

Monday, June 1, was spent in the ordinary in- 
struction and exercises. Tuesday, June 2, was fixed 
for my departure, to the great sorrow of the poor In- 
dians; I recommended the chiefs to encourage their 
people to follow the road of the blackgown, and urge 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 113 

the conclusion of peace before the leaving of the 
priest. For that purpose, Witskalatche was deputed 
to the SkewamUhs\ and, in changing my route for 
Nesqualy, I had the happiness to contribute to the 
reconciliation of two tribes. Having given my great 
Catholic Ladder to Xetlam, he offered to carry me to 
Nesqualy in his large wooden canoe, which with 13 
men, was still light. My canoe was carried over to 
NetkmCs place, and I started on that day. In coast- 
ing along the island I saw forts 18 or 20 feet high, 
raised by the Indians to protect themselves against 
the TugoUah of Fraser river. I visited several tribes, 
and in one village 125 came to touch my hand, and 
were found able to make the sign of the cross, and to 
sing the Chinook canticles. I stopped all night at 
the village of the Skehamish, the Indians who had 
been fighting. At this place about 140 came to 
touch my hand, and made the sign of the cross, and 
sung the canticles equally as well as the other tribes. 
Sehalapahen, their chief, who had visited Father 
Demers at Cowlitz, had taught them what he had 
learned himself. On Wednesday, June 3, I solemnly 
baptized 96 children; after which took place the 
meeting for the conclusion of peace, which lasted 
nearly four hours. My address was transmitted by 
my interpreter to a third one, who delivered it to the 
chiefs with an astonishing eloquence. After many 
and long harangues, it was concluded that the SkeJc- 
wamish should pay two guns to the Elalams for the 
tvo men killed. Witslakatche received the guns and 
carried them to the Elalams, who, according to cus- 
tom, would give something in return. Thus was 



114 SKETCHES OF THE 

peace concluded. I then started at 3 p. ni., travelled 
all Thursday, and reached Nesqualy on Friday, and 
found Mr. Kitsen better, and started at 2 p. m. for 
Cowlitz, which I reached on Saturday, June 6, at 10 
p. m. The fruits of the mission were: 9 baptisms 
at Nesqualy 218, at Whidby, 6 en route, total 233. 

Many of the Chinook tribe had already seen the 
black gown at fort Vancouver, and had had their chil- 
dren baptized; but they had not yet been visited in 
their own land. The time having arrived to visit 
them at home, Eev. M. Demers left Cowlitz on May 
19th, and arrived at Astoria on the 21. The long- 
expected ship bringing from the East, Jason Lee, 
with a number of other Methodist ministers, their 
wives and several young ladies, had just crossed the 
bar; they were to be distributed all over the country, 
in opposition to the Catholic missionaries. On the 
following day, Eev. M. Demers went on his mission, 
and fixed his tent among the Chinooks. He met 
there Daniel Lee, the preacher, who, after a few 
days left him a clear stage, being in a hurry, no 
doubt, to visit the ship in order to have the first 
choice for a wife among the young misses. As to the 
Eev. M. Demers, a little bell in one hand, and a Ca- 
tholic Ladder in the other, he continued his mission 
for three weeks, instructing the adults, baptizing the 
children, and doing much good. He returned home 
much satisfied, after an absence of 26 days. He re- 
mained but two days with the Vicar General, having 
to leave on June 15th, for Vancouver, in order to ad- 
minister to the Brigades going North and South, be- 
fore leaving for the Colviile mission. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH E8 OREGON. 115 

After Rev. M. Demers had left Cowlitz, the Vicar 
General remained, in order to be present at the 
erection of a new chapel measuring 25x50, which 
took place on June 17; and leaving on the 19th, he 
reached Vancouver on Sunday morning, remained 
four days with his dear confrere, and arrived at St. 
Paul on June 21st, after an absence of 54 days. 

Rev. M. Demers, having given a mission of 10 
days at Vancouver, started on June 29, with the Bri- 
gade of the Porteurs, commanded by chief Factor Og- 
den; was at Grandes Dalles portage on July 5th; at 
Walla Walla on the 10th, reached the Palouse river 
safely, half way between Valla Walla and Colville 
and arrived at last at the end of his far distant 
mission, having suffered much by the heat of the sun 
and the want of water for himself and his horses. 
Having completed his mission at Colville, he returned 
by way of Okanagan and Walla Walla, reaching 
Vancouver on Oct. 2, just three months and six days 
after he had left it. After a few days of rest, he 
started for St. Paul, which he reached on Oct. 11. 
They both started together for Vancouver on the 17th 
in order to give that place a mission of fourteen days 
before going to their winter quarters; after which 
the Vicar General reached Wallamette Oct. 31st., 
and Kev. M. Demers reached Cowlitz on the same 
day, after an absence of four months and eighteen 
days from home. At St. Paul 7 persons were found 
sufficiently prepared to make their first communion 
in December. It was during his mission at Colville 
that, hearing there was a priest somewhere among 



116 SKETCHES OF THE 

the Indians of the Rocky mountains, he announced 
the fact to the Vicar General by a letter which reach- 
ed him on August 30th. 

The causes which led to the presence of Jesuit mis- 
sionaries among the Indians of the Rocky Mountains 
are of such historical interest that we give them : — 
A large number of Canadians and Iroquois were 
employed by the Companies trading among the In- 
dians of the Pacific Coast, as well as by the various 
expeditions by sea and by land. That of Capt. Hunt, 
which started in 1811, had great hardships to en- 
dure, and loss of men to suffer by desertion, in 1812; 
of the number were 24 Iroquois who joined the Flat- 
head nation. They soon married and had families. 
And as the Canadians were the first apostles among 
the Indians of the Pacific Coast, so also were the 24 
Iroquois among the Flatheads; speaking to them of 
their religion, churches, priests, and festivals. The 
Flatheads who were naturally good, were pleased. 
They sent a deputation to St. Louis about 1830, in 
order to ascertain about what the Iroquois related. 
Soon after arriving, they took sick, called for the 
priest, were baptized, and expired kissing the cruci- 
fix. The nation sent another deputation of one Iro- 
quois, in 1832; he arrived safe at St. Louis, had his 
children baptized, and was returning home with some 
hope of soon having priests for his countrymen and 
adopted nation; but he was killed by the Sioux In- 
dians. A third deputation was sent in 1839, calling 
for priests. This time, the deputation consisting of 
two Iroquois, returning in the fall, started with the 
full hope that some priests would be sent on the fol 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 117 

lowing year; for the Rt. Rev. Bishop Bosati, having 
written to the Superior General of the Jesuits at 
Rome, begging him earnestly to take charge of that 
mission, had received a favorable reply. Hence 
the appointment of Father De Smet, who came in 
the spring of 1840, passed two months among the 
Flatheads, baptized 350, and went home, to return 
in 1841. Such is the origin of the Flathead mission, 
and the apostleship of the Iroquois, who, when the 
pretended missionaries, Jason Lee, and others, pre- 
sented themselves to the Flatheads in 1834, told them 
** These are not the priests we have spoken to you 
about. They are not the priests with long black 
gowns, who have no wives, say mass and cany a cru- 
cifix with them/ 5 Rev. M. Demers had at last a cor- 
respondence with Father De Smet, and brought 
down the following with him: 

Letter of Rev. Father De Smet, S. J., to Very Rev. F. X. Blait- 
eliet, V. G. 

Fork of Jefferson, River, Aug. 10th 1840. 
Very Bey. Sir : — The present which I have the honor 
to write will surprise your Reverence, as coming from one 
unknown, but in quality of a co-operator in the Vineyard 
of the Lord, and in a so far remote country, it cannot be 
disagreeable to you. I wish I could have leisure to give 
your Reverence some details of my mission to the Rocky 
Mountains, but Mr. Bruette who is so kind as to carry my 
letter to Fort Colville, just ready to start, gives me but a few 
minutes to write. Your Reverence will then learn that Mgr. 
Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, in concert with my provincial, 
superior of the company in Missouri, and in compliance 
with the desires often repeated by the Tetes Plates and 
Pend (V Oreilles, and a great number of Nez Perces, has 
sent me to the Rocky Mountains, to visit these nations. I 
have found the two first in the best desirable dispositions, 
well resolved to stand by the true children of Jesus Christ. 
The few weeks I had the happiness to pass among them, 



c 



118 SKETCHES OF THE 1 

have been the happiest of my life, and give me the firm 
hope, with the grace of God, to see soon renewed in 
these countries, so long forsaken, the fervor of the first 
Christians. Since I am among them, I give three, four or 
five instructions a day ; they cannot be tired ; all come to» 
my lodge at the first ringing of the bell; they are anxious to 
lose none of my words relating to these instructions on 
heavenly subjects ; and, if I had the strength to speak tc* 
them, they would willingly listen to me whole days and 
nights. I have baptized about 200 of their little children r 
and expect to baptize in a short time 150 adults. 

The object of my mission was to visit a great part of the 
territory of Oregon, and make reports to my Bishop ^ and 
Superior, on the most favorable places to open missions. 
But I have found so many good dispositions among the In- 
dians of the plains, that I have changed the plan of my 
journey. I will return to St. Louis before the winter, and 
will be back next spring, with a caravan of missionaries,, 
who are already preparing themselves. The Soshones and 
Serpens (Snakes) desire to have an establishment; the 
Tetes Plates and Pend d 1 Oreilles have nothing more at 
heart. The Nez Perces seemed to be tired with these self- 
dubbed ministers a femrnes, and show a great predilection 
in favor of Catholic priests. We will therefore have enough 
to occupy ourselves in these mountains without extending any 
further into the land. I hope, nevertheless, that before the 
winter of 1841, I will have the honor to pay a visit to your 
Reverence, in order to have the aid of your counsels, and 
work in concert to gain these poor nations to Jesus Christ. 
Please present my respects to Rev. M. Demers. 
I have the honor to be, etc. 

P. J. De SMET, S. J., Missioned 



Missionary Labors in 1841 ajl Vancouver, Clackamas,, 
Falls of the Wallamette and Cascades. 

The two missionaries had been separated nearly 
four months and a half, since last fall. The place of 
their re-union was Fort Vancouver. Rev. M. Demers 
leaving Cowlitz on March 3rd, reached Vancouver on 
the 6th., and began at that place a mission of 26 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 119 

days, with the usual daily exercises, in the, morning,, 
afternoon and evening ; and returned home April 
3rd the eve of Palm Sunday, after an absence of 31 
days. 

There were three Indian tribes which had been 
gained to Methodism for over a year, viz : those of 
Clackamas, Wallamette Fall, and Cascades. The 
two missionaries had been too busy to visit them be- 
fore. A door was opened to them this year in the 
following manner : A chief of the Clackamas tribe 
called Poh poh, went to St. Paul in February; he 
saw there the orphan boys in charge of the Catholic 
mission, some Indian families and other persons,, 
numbering over 15. He assisted at the daily exer- 
cises and explanation of the Catholic Ladder. He 
was a Methodist, and the Corypheus of the sect, but 
on looking at the Ladder and seeing the crooked road 
of Protestantism made by men in the 16th century, he 
at once, abjured Methodism, to embrace the straight 
road made by Jesus Christ ; and returning home he 
invited the missionary to visit his tribe. 

The Vicar General was pleased with the invitation. 
He left St. Paul on March 11th, to meet Father 
Demers at Vancouver, and he stopped on his way at 
the Wapato Lake, which is but a few miles below the 
Clackamas river, where the Indians of the Clackamas 
tribes were assembled to dig the Wapato root, (a kind 
of potatoe) on the right shore of the Wallamette. He 
was received by chief Poh poh, and gave the tribe a 
mission of 4 days with the usual exercises of the ex- 
planation of the Catholic Ladder, etc. Mass was 
celebrated on Sunday 14th and following days. That 



120 SKETCHES OF THE 

great celebration was astonishing to them. Although 
they had been for two years under the teaching of 
Bro. Perkins, till the fall of 1840, and under that of 
Bro. Waller since then, they listened to the mission- 
ary for four days with pleasure. The fruits of the 
mission were the baptism of 11 children and an adult, 
in danger of death. It was also the beginning of 
their abandonment of Methodism. He reached Van- 
couver on the 15th. On returning from thence, March 
24th, he gave them two other days, celebrated Mass 
on the 25th, baptized an adult, the wife of chief 
Wesamas in danger of death on the 26th, and reached 
St. Paul on Saturday 27th, after an absence of 17 
days. Chief Pohpoh returned to St. Paul, in April 
in order to learn more, and strenghten his faith. He 
returned after 8 days hence with a Ladder, a red flag, 
bearing a cross, to be hoisted on Sunday. He was 
overjoyed. 

One of the items sent to Quebec, Canada, was : 
"from March 1840 to March 1841, were performed : 
Baptisms 510 ; marriages 12, burials 11, communions 
60 ; one abjuration at St. Paul. Of the 510 baptisms 
233 were made by the Vicar General at Nesqualy and 
Whidby Island ; 164 by Father Demers at Chinook, 
Cowlitz and Colville missions ; the rest, 113, at Van- 
couver and St. Paul. Of the 510 baptisms, about 
410 Indians, 100 whites and 40 adults." 

The Wallamette Fall Indian village was on the 
west bank below the fall. Its chief was Wesamns. 
The time to visit having arrived, the Vicar General 
left St. Paul, after the celebration of Easter, and ar- 
rived there on April 29th. On his arrival, he made 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 121 

known to the chief the object of his visit. The proud 
chief answered : "Begone ! Away, away with you : 
we don't want you/' Such a rough reception did not 
discourage the missionary. He soon learned that the 
chief had been very much offended because the Clack- 
amas tribe had been visited before his own. On ex- 
planation, he became calmer, and, at last, seemed to 
be satisfied. Then began a mission of 7 days of hard 
work ; the missionary being obliged to run every day 
after these lazy Indians, to bring them to his tent, 
and assist at the several exercises. The holy Mass 
was celebrated on the 3rd day, a Sunday, and the 
following days. The sight of the altar, vestments, 
sacred vessels, and great ceremonies were drawing 
their attention a great deal more than the cold, una- 
vailable and lay service of Bro. Waller. There seemed 
to be more attention given to the ringing of the bell, 
and the mission exercises. The missionary had at 
last the consolation to see the poor Indians make the 
sign of the cross, say the offering of the heart, call 
the 7 medicines, sing a short prayer before and after 
meals, and also the Chinook canticles. 11 children 
were baptized and 9 families out of ten had been res- 
cued from Bro. Waller. On the fourth day of the 
mission arrived Pohpoh with some of his people. He 
complained very much that when his flag was hoisted 
on Sunday, Mr. Waller pulled it down to the great 
displeasure, even of those of his own sect. On an- 
other day there came some Indians of Clatsop. On 
seeing the altar, ornaments and vestments, they said: 
"Mr. Frost is far from showing us such things.'' 
That same day an Indian reported that Iieiinsno chief 



V 



122 SKETCHES OF THE 

of the Indians below Vancouver, said, to his people : 
"Follow the priest if you like, for myself, I am too 
bad, I am unable to change. I will die the same." 
Additional Incidents in 1840. 
The following incidents showing the dispositions of 
the Indians are worthy of being mentioned: A 
Snohomish chief came to Cowlitz in the fall, to see 
the priest and tell him that the timber for a house of 
prayer, recommended by the Black gown, had been 
prepared and was ready for erection. He came to 
have a priest to direct the work. He was much dis- 
appointed in being obliged to return home alone. 
Harkely, a chief from Yakima, came down to St. 
Paul in the fall, with his family and some of his peo- 
ple. After three weeks of instruction, he returned 
home with a chaplet, a cross, some images and a 
Catholic Ladder, and used to explain it to his people 
on a Sunday. A chief from O'Kanagan sent word to 
St. Paul, asking what to do; that he was ready to 
come down with his people next spring, if so recom- 
mended. A Priest's Rapids chief, on the Columbia, 
came down to St. Paul in the fall, with his wife, 
three children and a brother-in-law. He passed the 
winter there, got instructed, learned his prayers, and 
was baptized, under the name of Joseph, with his 
family. Father Demers gave a mission of nine eays 
to the O'Kanagan Indians, on returning from Colville. 
On November 20th. 1840, he blessed and occupied a 
new house at Cowlitz. From that date, the log chapel 
ceased to be his lodging place. It was made more 
decent by ceiling the sanctuary with mats and orna- 
menting the altar table with vases. 



catholic church in oregon. 123 

Vamous Missions in 1841. 

From his Mission at Wallarnette falls, the Vicar 
General went, on May 6th, to the Clackamas tribe, 
which he had already visited in March, at the Wapeto 
lake. The usual daily exercises were continued at 
the ringing of the bell for nine days. Bro. Waller came 
and called him an intruder. His Evangelical Ladder 
was brought near the Catholic one ; the Indians pro- 
nounced themselves in favor of the latter; twelve 
lodges were gained. Being obliged to return to St. 
Paul on the loth, Rev. M. Demers, being at Van. 
couver, came to replace him. He continued the 
mission for two weeks, giving some days to the Wal- 
amette tribe and the rest to that of the Clackamas. 
It was on that occasion that Wesamus, the Corypheus 
of Bro, Waller was gained. 

From the Clackamas, Father Demers returned to 
Vancouver, to administer to the Brigades of north and 
south, after which he went home to teach catechism. 
And as the Colville mission vi as being omitted this 
year, because of Father De Smet being expected to 
come down that way, and it had been resolved that 
Father Demers would go this year to the Sound, he 
started on August 11th, went to Nesqualy and 
thence to the bay. He visited many tribes, besides 
those seen by the Vicar General; he traveled 
from one nation to another, accompanied by chief 
Tslalakum and many other great chiefs. His travel- 
ing was a triumphal one, surrounded sometimes by 
600 and other times by 3,000 Indians, who, hostile to 
each other, were peacable in the presence of the 



124 SKETCHES OF THE 

black gown. He often passed whole days in 
teaching, with a Ladder 10 by 1\ feet, these poor 
Indians so desirous of heavenly things, and continu- 
ing late at night to sing, pray and hear the harangues 
of the chiefs repeating what they had learned. It 
was a beautiful and consoling spectacle to see tribes 
who had never seen the black gown, able to sign,them- 
selves, sing and pray around the Ladder, when the 
priest was giving the hand to a new comer. From 
the bay he passed to Fort Langlay on the Fraser 
river. There were new triumphs among the Kaivit- 
shins. There ended his mission, and on September 
24th, he was at home, having made 765 baptisms, 
and been 44 days absent. 

In the beginning of June, Commodore Wilkes left 
Vancouver on a visit to the Willamette valley, and 
took dinner with the Vicar General at his residence 
at St. Paul. He told him that on seeing a cross on 
Whitby Island, he called it the Cross Lsland. The 
Vicar General having promised Father Demers that 
he would visit Cowlitz during his absence, started 
June 14th, for that place. On returning he gave a 
mission of 14 days at Vancouver. It was on that 
occasion that Commodore Wilkes, assisted with several 
officers of his staff and Dr. McLaughlin, at High Mass 
and vespers on a Sunday. It was a solemn day. The 
following Sunday, though the Commodore w r as ab- 
sent, the ceremony was not less solemn. A house 62 
by 25 was raised in March, at St. Paul, to serve as a 
hall for the people on Sunday and a lodging for the 
priest. 

The next mission to be made was that of the Cas- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 1^: 

cade tribe which had never been visited by the black 
gown. Tamakoon, its chief, had already been a con- 
vert since 1839, at the sight and explanation of the 
Catholic Ladder. He had met many times, the 
assaults and efforts of the Methodist preachers, but 
all in vain; he remained unmoved. He was glad to 
see le pleie arrive on September 17th. His tribe 
contained from 150 to 200. The daily exercises of 
mass, etc., began and was continued for 10 days, 
and the poor Indians, in part, began to sing and sign 
themselves and to pray. Tamakoon received a bell 
and a Ladder to be used on Sunday. He was able to 
speak on it for several hours. Thirty-four children 
were baptised. 

From the Cascades the Vicar General passed to the 
Clackamas, on November 30th. That was his third 
visit. It lasted 13 days with the usual exercises. A 
high cross was blessed and erected on October 2d, 
Bro. Waller, hearing that the Indians 'were willing 
to build a chapel, came and made a noise; all had 
left him save a few. Eleven children were baptised; 
in all 41, with 30 before. The Vicar General left 
them on October 12th for St. Paul. 

The Vicar General left St. Paul for the Cowlitz oir 
November 15th. Meeting at Vancouver Sir George 
Simpson, who desired to visit the Canadian settle- 
ment, he returned home with him. Sir George 
assisted at High Mass and Vespers on Sunday, and 
seemed to have been pleased with what he had seen' 
there and at Vancouver. He became convinced at 
last of the necessity of granting passage for new 
priests and other assistants. Starting again the 



126 SKETCHES OF THE 

• 

Vicar General readied Cowlitz on December 1st; left 
it on thft 7th; arrived at Vancouver on the 10th, 
and Clackamas village on the 18th; went to pray at 
the foot of the cross with the Indians and the chiefs; 
left them well pleased. As the river was much 
swollen by the heavy and unusual rains, he met great 
dangers at Rock Island, above the falls. ^ He being 
on shore to lighten the canoe, the canoe capsized, 
and eight persons were struggling in the water; all 
were saved as by a miracle. The Vicar General 
reached home on December 23d; but left for Van- 
couver on the 27th, to attend the funeral services of 
Mr. Kitron, who having been brought to Vancouver 
in 1840, and made his abjuration and received holy 
communion and other sacraments, and died happy. 
The Vicar General returned home on the eve of New 
Year's day. 

Incidents in 1841. 

Rev. Father P. J. De Smet, S. J. returned to the 
Rocky Mountains in the Spring of 1841, with the 
Rev. Fathers Mengarini and Point, and founded St. 
Mary's mission among the Flatheads. The Cowlitz 
settlement had the happiness to possess the Blessed 
Sacrament in its little chapel from Jan. 6. HarJcely, 
the Yakima chief, who visited St. Paul last fall, ar- 
rived at Cowlitz on Jan. 25, with some Indians of 
O'Kanagan, and a son of the Spokane chief, called 
La grosse Tete, the Corypheus of Bro. Eells, 10 in all. 
They had come by way of Nesqualy, and hence 
through the long portage, had been stripped of their 
blankets and ordered back by the Chehalis, which 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 127 

they refused to accede to. The sou of La grosse 
Tete had left his home in spite of his father to be- 
come a Catholic. They came to get instructed. 
They went home via Vancouver and the Columbia. 
The little chief cles Chaudieres (Colville) was an 
apostle among his people, with the Catholic Ladder 
in his hands, since the departure of the priest. 

Missionary Labors in 1842. 

The two missionaries met again this year, at Van- 
couver, after a separation of 3 months and a half. 
Rev. M. Demers came first in three days of bad 
weather, and arrived on Feb. 23d. He began a mis- 
sion of 27 days, with the usual forenoon, afternoon, 
and evening exercises; after which, leaving on Mon- 
day of Holy Week, and experiencing three other 
days of bad weather, he reached home after an ab- 
sence of 32 days. 

The Y. Gr. came later to meet his dear companion, 
and arrived on Tuesday of Passion Week, March 15; 
and starting on Thursday of the same week, and ex- 
periencing bad weather also, he reached St. Paul on 
Saturday, the eve of Palm Sunday. 

One of the items he sent to Quebec, Canada, was: 
"from March 1841 to March 1842, were performed; 
baptisms, 965; marriages, 12; burials, 21; communi- 
ons, 115. Of the 965 baptisms, 765 were made on 
Puget Sound, all Indians, save 15 Whites, at Fort 
Langley, 69 at the Clackamas, Wallamette fall and 
Cascades mission, 70 at Vancouver, 24 at the Cow- 
litz, and 37 at St, Paul. 

Having given the great festival of Easter and three 



v7 



128 SKETCHES OF THE 

weeks of the Passover time to the faithful of St. 
Paul, the V. G. gave his first outside missionary la- 
bors to his dear Indians of the Wallamette falls. 
Arriving there on April 20th, and notwithstanding 
the cold reception he received, he began his mission- 
ary labors which he continued for fifteen days. The 
poor Indians were very indolent; the ringing of the 
bell drew few of them in the beginning; they had 
forgotten all they had learned before. Having no 
time to go and visit the Clackamas Indians, on the 
present occasion, they were invited to come to the 
Fall; several of them came. By persevering in his 
efforts he began to gain their confidence, and they 
became more attentive. He made six baptisms, in- 
cluding two adults in danger of death. The reason 
of their apathy was the distraction in w T hich they 
were involved by the immigration of the whites; 15 
families of them had crossed the Clackamas river 
during his mission at that place, in Nov. 1841. And, 
as the Wallamette fall was an attractive place, many 
of them began to settle there. Hence the danger 
for the poor Indians. The fruits of the mission 
were not so consoling as formerly. 

On May 4th, the Y. G-. went fioni the Wallamette 
fall to Vancouver to receive 8 cases which had ar- 
rived fr'om London; and from thence returned to St. 
Paul for the festival of Pentecost, and Corpus Chris- 
ti, falling on May 26. Dr. McLaughlin paying a 
visit to St. Paul at that time, assisted at high mass 
and procession, with much edification; having visited 
the whole colony, he encouraged the settlers to con- 
tinue, and returned home much satisfied. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 122 

Arrival or Father De Smet, S. J. 

Rev. M. Demers returned to Vancouver in the 
middle of May, to attend the wants of that mission, 
and those of the Brigades of the north and south. 
He had been there but a few weeks, when Father 
De Smet arrived at Vancouver from Colville, which 
he reached early in the spring. In crossing a rapid 
below Colville his boat was capsized, but he reached 
the shore in safety, suffering only from the loss of 
his baggage. Rev. M. Demers brought him to St. 
Paul; he spent 8 days with the V. Gr., sung high mass 
on Sunday, addressed words of exhortation to the 
congregation, and expressed himself much pleased 
with the solemnity of the mass, and vesper service: 
especially in the singing; of the Catholic Ladder be 
said: "That plan will be adopted by the missions of 
the whole world." Here he returned to Vancouver 
with Rev. M. Demers; the V. G. soon followed them 
to deliberate on the interests of the great mission of 
the Pacific Coast. 

The missions to be attended this year, were those 
of Chinook Point, Vancouver, Cascades, Clacka- 
mas, Wallamette Fall, and the Sound, whose tribes 
were so famished for heavenly things : Witness their 
running after the Blackgown in 1840 and 1841, and 
their repeated calls for a priest ever since. The 
name of another mission was presented to the coun- 
cil, that of the New Caledonia, now British Columbia, 
which was threatened to be visited by the Presbyte- 
rians of Walla Walla. 

All things being considered, the resolve was that 
the New Caledonia mission should be attended be- 



130 SKETCHES OF THE 

fore all, and that Father De Smet should sfcUrt for 
St. Louis and Belgium to bring temporal and perso- 
nal efficient means. Kev. M. Demers accepting 
heartily the long and hard mission of New Caledonia, 
prepared himself for the journey and winter there. 
The two missionaries started with the Brigades of 
the Porteurs on June 29th, and separated from each 
other at Walla Walla. The V. G. left alone to ad- 
minister to the wants of the extensive mission, re- 
turned soon to St. Panl, to teach catechism for the 
first communion, w^hich he put off after the harvest 
for new instruction. 

The Cowlitz mission which had lost its beloved 
missionary, needed to be consoled. The V. Gr. left St. 
Paul on Aug. 12th, passed a few days at Vancouver 
and reached Cowlitz on the 18th. He remained there 
twenty days, teaching the white women and children 
for the first communion. The Indians had also a 
share of his time. He baptized ten of their children. 
In the midst of his occupation he heard that a wo- 
man was sick at Nesqualy, and had but a few days to 
live. Leaving at 4 p. m. on Friday with a guide, and 
travelling a distance of 25 ieagues, he reached the 
house of the poor sick woman on the following day 
at 6 p.m.: gave her the consolation of religion, bap- 
tized her child, passed the night there, and went to 
the Fort to hear the Confessions of the men, and 
starting on Sunday at 4 p. m. he reached Cowlitz on 
Monday at 6 p. m. The church raised on June 17th, 
1840, was not yet finished for want of lumber. 

On leaving Cowlitz, Sept. 6th, and reaching St. 
Paul on the 10th, after an absence of 30 days, he 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 131 

was accompanied by the great chief Snehomish Se- 
halapahen, who fought the Klalams in 1840, and 
came out victorious, said he, by virtue of his chap- 
let and Catholic Ladder. He had come to Cowlits 
twice last spring, and had accompanied Father De- 
mers to Vancouver in May, expecting he would bring 
him with him to the Bay, and when he saw him go 
ing elsewhere, and was obliged to return home alone, 
he went away with a stricken heart. It was the third 
time he was coming to be instructed and baptized. 
He was much pleased to see the churches and servi- 
ces on Sunday at Vancouver and St. Paul. On arri- 
ving there, the V. G. recommended the catechism 
for the first communion. 

The 17th of September was a day of great rejoicing 
for the V. G. in receiving and embracing his dear 
new confreres, Rev. A. Langlois and J. B. Z. Bol- 
duc, arriving from Canada. They had been over a 
year on their journey, for having left Boston on Aug. 
10th, doubled Cape Horn on Dec. 5th, and touched 
at Valparaiso, Gambier Islands, Tahiti, Honolulu, 
they crossed the Columbia river bar on Sept. 12th. 
When the Bishop of Quebec was refused a passage in 
the canoes of the Hudson Bay Company for other 
priests for Oregon, he sent them by sea. Sir George 
Simpson avowed to the V. G. in 1841, that Mr. 
Beaver, the ex-chaplain, was the cause of the refusal. 
The following day being Sunday, a high mass was 
celebrated with Deacon and sub-Deacon, for the first 
time in Oregon, and followed with a Te Deum. On 
Sunday Sept. 30th, took place , with great solemnity, 
the first communion of those found prepared. 



182 SKETCHES OF THE 

The faithful at Vancouver were complaining of not 
being well attended; time was wanting to the mis- 
sionaries. Now that their number was increased, 
they were to have a better share. Therefore the V. 
G. leaving St. Paul in charge of Rev. Bolduc, started 
with Rev. Langlois and reached the mission on Oct. 
7th. The instruction of the ladies of the Fort was 
given to Rev. Langlois; the V. G. kept for himself 
that of the women and children of the village. After 
three weeks of daily teaching, seven ladies of the 
fort and two women of the village were found 
able to make their first communion, which took place 
on Sunday Oct. 30th, for the first time at Vancouver, 
with great solemnity before a large congregation. 
This being done, Rev. Langlois was sent to St. Paul, 
and Rev. Bolduc to Cowlitz, to attend those missions; 
the V. G. remaining at Fort Vancouver. Sehalapahen 
who attended the mission at Vancouver followed Fa- 
ther Bolduc, w T ho completed his instruction and bap- 
tized him. 

The Cascades and Clackamas tribes had not been 
visited for over one year. They had been exposed 
all the while to the seduction of the preachers telling 
them: "The priests have forsaken you." They did 
not need twelve months to forget what they had 
learned in a few weeks. Nevertheless, their visiting 
the BlacJcgown from time to time was a proof of their 
loving him still. As to the Clackamas, it was impos- 
sible to give them a visit. The Cascade Indians had 
a better chance, as their moving yearly, in October, 
on the left shore of the Columbia, nearly opposite 
Vancouver, brought them near to the priest. There- 
fore the V. G., dividing his time between the women 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 133 

of the village and those Indians, gave the former the 
forenoon, and the latter the afternoon for several 
weeks. This met with many difficulties, such as the 
crossing of the river, the division of the tribe into two 
camps, afar from each other, and the ice of the up- 
per Columbia covering the river. Nevertheless he 
had the consolation to make 15 baptisms. Another 
great consolation he met on Nov. 18th, was that of 
receiving the profession of faith of Governor Mc 
Laughlin to the Catholic faith, as explained else- 
where, lie made his first communion at midnight 
high mass, at the head of 38 communicants. The 
office had never been so solemn, as to chant, music, 
and decoration, as en that night. The number of 
first communions made in the Fall, was; 13 at Van- 
couver, 7 at St. Paul, and 4 at Cowlitz. Thus ended 
1842. 



Missionary Labors in 1843. 

After a residence of three months and a half, the 
Vicar General left Vancouver for St. Paul, on Jan. 
18th, 1813. When on his way he stopped to get a 
paddle, he also baptized a dying child. Rev. 
Langlois, availing himself of the presence of the 
Vicar General, started on Jan. 30th, to see his trav- 
eling companion. He was three weeks on his jour- 
ney. On returning he met a heavy rain, and the 
high flood of Feb. 13th, which exposed him to great 
suffering and dangers. 

Chief Factor Douglas, being on his way to found 

Victoria, on the south end of Vancouver Island, 

started with an expedition of 22 men, and invited Rev. 



184 SKETCHES OE THE 

Balduc to accompany him. Having the consent of 
the Vicar General he left Cowlitz on March 7th, with 
the expedition for Nesqualy, where the steamer 
Beaver was waiting. Leaving on the 13th, she reach- 
ed her destination on the 14th, where Rev. Bolduc 
met a large number of Indians. On Sunday the 19th, 
he celebrated mass in a repository, before the men 
and over 1200 Indians, and baptized 102 children. 
And giving up his design of going farther north, he 
bought a large canoe, crossed the Bay in two days, 
reached Whitby on the 25th, and fixed his tent near 
the cross erected in 1840. The Skatchates and other 
tribes received him in open arms. They built him a 
house 28x25. He taught them during 8 days, 
baptized 173 children, and leaving on April 3d, he 
got home on the 6th, after an absence of 31 days. 
In sending his report he begged to be allowed to go 
and found that mission. 

The Vicar General left St. Paul for Vancouver on 
March 13th, and bought a lot for $225, at Wallamette 
Fall to build a chapel for the Indians. One of the 
items he sent to Canada, was: from March, 1842 to 
March, 1843, were made 688 baptisms, 28 marriages, 
26 burials. Of 688 baptisms, 447 were made in New 
Caledonia, 98 at St. Paul, 86 at Vancouver, and 57 
at Cowlitz. By a recapitulation from 1838, were 
made, 2,666 baptisms, 148 marriages, 86 burials. 
The Vicar General left Vancouver for St. Paul during 
Passion Week and returned on April 18th, the eve of 
Palm Sunday. 

Rev. M. Demers was not expected to have any 
chance to come back before the return of the Brigade 



SKETCHES OF THE 135 

of the North. It was therefore with the greatest 
surprise that on entering his room, on Holy Thursday 
evening, April 13th, the Vicar General met him 
there. Sweet and moving was the embrace after a 
separation of nearly nine months and a half. 
Leaving Vancouver June 29th, 1842, he reached Fort 
Thompson, Aug. 10th, Fort Alexander, on Fraser 
River, Aug. 23d, Fort Stuart; on Stuart Lake, 300 
leagues from Vancouver, the residence of Chief Fac- 
tor Ogden, the commander of the Brigade, on Sept* 
16th. He celebrated a high mass there on the 18th, 
Returning home, he reached Fort Alexander, Sept, 
24th, had a chapel built by the Indians; celebrated 
in it Dec. 4th; took his lodging in it on Jan. 3d, 
1843. He learned two languages, translated the 
canticles and prayers in their idioms, and taught 
them to the Indians; and left them able to pray 5 
sing and explain the Catholic Ladder. Hard was 
their separation. Availing himself of the invitation 
offered him by Chief Factor Ogden, he started with 
him on horseback, in three or four feet of snow, on 
Feb. 21st, from Fort Alexander; reached Fort 
Thompson, March 1st, passed 13 days at Okanagant 
starving, and waiting for a boat; came hence on 
horseback along the Columbia to Snake River; hence 
by boat to Walla Walla and Vancouver, 44 days from 
Fort Thompson. In going and coming he had en- 
countered many trials, dangers and fatigues, some- 
times extreme. The Vicar General preached on 
Good Friday, and Father Demers on Easter Sunday, 
April 16th. 

Rev. Bolduc, arriving from Cowlitz ou April 19th, 



136 CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON/ 

left for St. Paul with Rev. M. Demers, who preached 
there on Sunday, 23d, and returning to Vancouver, 
they both started for Cowlitz, on April 27th, to pre- 
pare themselves for the mission of Whitby. On 
May 10th, they were en route for Nesqualy with 2 
men and 11 horses, 7 of them with packages; they 
reached Whitby on May 25th, 1843. 

Rev. Langlois being put in charge of Cowlitz, 
Vancouver, Cascades, Wallamette Fall, and Clacka- 
mas Indians, left St. Paul May 17th, for his post. 
He succeeded to finish the church erected in 1840; 
and began to celebrate mass in it on Pentecost day, 
June, 4th. He visited several times, the Indians of 
the mountains, living on the route to Nesqualy. 
From Cowlitz he came to Vancouver in the beginning 
of June to attend the Brigades of the North and 
South. He went to the Cascades in the beginning 
of July, and gave a mission of 8 days to the Indians 
of that place. Passing hence to the Wallamette 
Fall and Clackamas tribes, he spent several weeks 
among them. The plat surveyed in Dec. 1842, at 
the Fall, had been called Oregon City; it was grow- 
ing rapidly, to no benefit to the Clackamas and Wal- 
lamette Fall Indians. Hence the little success of 
Rev. A Langlois, who consoled himself by the hope 
of the conversion of Walter Pomeroy, a pioneer car- 
penter, who built the Cathedral at Oregon City in 
1845. 

On reaching the Clackamas Indian village, Rev. A. 
Langlois found the cross erected in 1841 had dis- 
appeared. It had been cut down by order of the 
Methodist preacher Waller, to the great sorrow of 



CATHOLIC CHTRCH IN OREGON. 137 

the Indians. Yes, the cross which shows the excess 
of the love of the Son of God for man ; the cross by 
which Jesus Christ, our Blessed Redeemer, redeemed 
the world ; the cross made known from that of the 
two thieves by a miracle ; the cross shown to Con- 
stantine, in heaven, with the words : "7wc signo 
vinces" the cross which converted the whole world 
from paganism, and which is a terror to the devils, 
the cross, whose sign shall appear at the last day, 
that cross is a scandal to the Methodist minister, 
Waller ; he has it in horror,, as the devils, he cannot 
bear the sight of it ; he ordered it to be cut down, 
and pretended to teach the poor Indians Christ cruci- 
fied; without showing them a cross ! ! ! Great God ! 
What subversion of ideas and judgment in the sect! 
What destruction of saving doctrine ! What turning 
ui^side down of common good sense and true religion 
rather unfortunably too well typified by the turning 
upside down of a table adorning the short belfry, 
(short faith) of the Methodist churches ! 

The Yicar General in going to St. Paul, to take 
the place of Rev. A. Langlois, taught catechism 
from May 1st to July 21st on which day 18 persons 
made their first Communion. Extremely great was 
the surprise of the Yicar General when at the end of 
June, he saw Rev. M. Demers arriving at St. Paul 
from Whitby which he had left with Rev. Bolduc 
after one month of residence. That step had 
not been taken rashly, but on- the most weighty 
reasons, which the Yicar General approved, and 
which it viould be too long to explain here. Never- 
theless Rev. Bolduc was ordered to go and j^ass the 



$38 SKETCHES OF THE 

summer with chief Tslalakum in order to learn the 
■idiom. But the rumors of war, induced him to re- 
turn from Nesqualy. The plan of the Whitbay 
mission being postponed till the arrival of Father 
De Smet, in its stead was announced that of opening 
a school at St. Paul in the fall. A second catechism 
begun by the Vicar General at St. Paul, after the 
harvest, was continued by Bev. Langlois, who on 
October 19, received 19 persons to their communions. 
The news came in October that two other Jesuit 
Fathers, De Vos and Hockens, sent from St. Louis 
by Father De Smet, had arrived for the Flathead 
and Cceur d'Alene missions ; they had come with a 
caravan of 700 souls. Dr. McLaughlin, on a second 
visit to St. Paul, in October, approached the holy 
table on a Sunday at the head of a number of the 
faithful. On his return to Oregon City, the Vicar 
General accompanied him and choose a block for the 
Church. Few weeks after, Walter Pomeroy, whose 
wife was Irish, came to St. Paul, made his profession 
of faith, had his marriage blessed, children baptized 
.and returned happy to the Twalatin Plains. 

The 17th of October was a day of great rejoicing 
at St. Paul, on account of the solemn blessing of St. 
Joseph's college after Mass chanted by the Vicar Gen- 
eral before a large congregation. On that day, there 
entered as boarders, 30 boys, sons of the farmers 
save one Indian boy, the son of a chief. Bev. A. 
Langlois was the director ; Mr. King principal and 
teacher of English, and Mr. Bilodeau, assistant, and 
teacher of French. Several acres east of the College 
was seen, in way of erection, a building of 60x30 for 



CATHOLIC CHURCH EN OREGON. 139 

the Sisters, expected to arrive with Father De Sniet, 
Faithful to his promise of sending assistants, made in 
1842, Sir George Simpson granted a passage in the 
canoe of the Hudson Bay Company, to five men and 
two women, who arrived with the Brigade on Nov> 
28th. Rev. M. Demers, after attending Cowiitz with 
Rev. Boldue, left it to come and remain at Vancouver, 
which he left in the beginning of December to return 
to Cowlitz and the Vicar General leaving Rev. Lan- 
glois in charge of St. Paul, reached Vancouver Dec 
21st to give the faithful of that place, the festival of 
midnight mass, Christmas and Circumcision. It 
was during this year that Hon. Peter H. Burnett, 
(afterwards Governor of California) while attending 
mass on Christmas Eve, merely as a spectator, was 
so moved by the solemnity of the service that he be- 
came a zealous c ; to the Catholic Church. 
Thus ended 1813, 

Erection of the Obi -.; n Mission into a Vicariate* 
Apostolic. December 1st 1843. 

Whilst the Missionaries of Oregon were doing 
their best to promote the spiritual interest of the 
mission confided to their care, the Bishops of Quebec 
and Baltimore looking further and to a greater 
solid good, and acting in concert, earnestly recom- 
mended the Holy See to erect their mission into a Vic- 
ariate Apostolic. The Holy See acquiescing to their 
desires erected said mission a Vicariate Apostolic by 
a brief of Dec. 1 1843 ; and appointed the Vicar Gen- 
eral F. X. Blanchet its Vicar Apostolic with the title 
of Philadelphia. The Vicar General was far from ex- 



140 SKETCHES OF THE 

pecting such a result so soon, the notice of which 
reached him but on Nov. 4., 1844, to his great sur- 
prise and sorrow. 

'Missionary Labors in 1844. 

In January, 1844, at Vancouver, the Vicar General 
baptized ten adults and blessed eight marriages 
after one month of instruction. As the town called 
Oregon City contained in 1842 60 houses and two 
Catholic families, and had a good prospect of in- 
creasing, the Vicar General thought it v/as time to 
provide it with a missionary. And as the right man 
for the place was Eev. M. Demers, who was at Cow- 
litz, the Vicar General left Vancouver on Feb. 19th ? 
for that mission, which he had not visited for a year 
and a half. On his way he visited several Indian 
lodges, baptized two children, one of whom was very 
sick, distributed biscuits to those who had been 
baptized before, and thereby made them and their 
parents happy. The Vicar General and Rev. M. 
Demers left Cowlitz on the 26th, and arrived at 
Oregon City on the 1st of March, after a painful 
journey of five days. Eev. M. Demers on his arrival 
took possession of a house,rented from Dr. Newell at 
$10 per month, and the Vicar General returned to 
Vancouver on the following day. Rev. M. Demers 
had arrived at Oregon Citj,^ under strange circum- 
stances; Bro. Waller having lost all credit among 
his countrymen had left for parts unknown. March 
3rd, being Sunday, he kept service before and after 
noon, and celebrated the first mass ever said in the 
city; the chapel was found too small for the occa&ion. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 141 

There was a, fight at Oregon City, on Monday, 
March 4th, between some Indians of the Molalle 
river and some Americans, in which one Indian was 
killed and two Americans wounded. They were 
both sent to Vancouver for treatment, and both 
died, G. W. Le Breton, on the 7th, and the other on 
the 16th. Le Breton had become a convert to the 
Catholic faith at St. Paul, in 1842, but seeing he 
could not get the girl he expected, he withdrew 
gradually from the church and apostatized. During 
his short sickness, the Vicar General visited him 
often, and used all his zeal to bring him back to re- 
pentance, but all in vain; he died a Protestant, and 
was buried by Chief Factor Douglas. The fight was 
an unfortunate and disgraceful affair, brought on by 
the indiscretion of two white men. 

The Vicar General left Vancouver for Oregon City 
and St. Paul, March 2.8th. Having settled some 
business for St. Joseph's College, and the Mission 
claim, which was surveyed by Jesse Applegate, and 
returning reached Vancouver on April 3rd. April 5th 
being Good Friday, Chief Factor Douglas assisted at 
the office and came down to the adoration of the 
cross with Governor McLaughlin. On returning to 
Cowlitz the Vicar General baptized 7 Indian children 
on the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers; and gathering 
those formerly baptized, he gave them biscuits. He 
found Father Bolduc in good health. Some business 
having been attended to, he returned to Vancouver 
on the 24th. Leaving on the 27th for St. Paul he 
sang high mass at Oregon City on Sunday the 28th, 
reaching St. Paul on the following Tuesday with 



142 SKETCHES OF THE 

Father Deniers, who after visiting together, saw the 
mission saw and grist mills and the Sisters' house in 
course of erection, returned home, while the Vicar 
•General remained till June 20th, on business. On 
May 13th he blessed and erected a high cross on the 
spot chosen for the new church to be built in 1846, 
On Sunday, June 9th, the procession of the Blessed 
Sacrament took place at St. Paul, which was made 
very solemn by the college scholars singing and 
performing figures before the Blessed Sacrament, 
during the procession Bev. M. Demers went on June 
10th to administer to the Brigades at Vancouver, 
which the Vicar General reached on June 22nd after 
an absence of fifty-eight days. 

On July 12th, the Vicar General left Vancouver 
for Cowlitz, and arrived there on Sunday, 14th. 
He said a low mass. On his return he met in the 
Columbia river, the English frigate, La Modeste, Capt. 
Bailey. The Captain being desirous of visiting the 
Wallamette Valley, left Vancouver with the Vicar 
General, Chief Factor Douglas, and several officers 
of his staff for St. Paul. They all attended the high 
imasson Sunday, July 21st, and seemed to be very 
much pleased to see such a service. They lodged at 
the College, where there had been on July, 18th an 
examination of the pupils, before a large assemblage, 
with great credit to the teachers and scholars. 
Leaving on Monday on a tour to the upper valley, 
Rev. M. Demers accompanied them. Bev. A. Lan- 
glois left St. Paul to pay a visit to the Jesuit Father 
of the Rocky Mountains on July 28th; he returned 
on Sept. 6th, much worn out by a journey of 42 days 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 143 

on horseback. He had his feet much swollen for a 
time. He returned with Father Mengarini on hear- 
ing of the arrival of Father De Smet by sea. Father 
Joset, Zerbinatli, and Soderini, three new Jesuit 
Fathers, were sent from St. Louis to the Rocky 
Mountains this year. 



Arrival of Father De Smet by Sea. 

The long expected return of Rev. Father De Smet 
came at last. Leaving Anvers, Belgium, on Jan. 9th, 
1844, in a sailing vessel called the L'infatigable, he 
met with great dangers at Cape Horn, touched at 
Valparaiso and Callao, spent four days outside the 
bar waiting for a pilot, passed the bar on July 31st, 
running straight east through the south channel, 
something never attempted before., came to a pass of 
2J fathoms of water, and arrived at Astoria in the 
evening. All who saw the course of the ship thought 
that she would be wrecked, the captain and passen- 
gers feaiing the same. Father De Smet arrived at 
Vancouver in a canoe on Sunday the 4th, at 6 a. m., 
the ship arriving on the 6th. Father De Smet was 
accompanied by four new Fathers; Rev. Fathers 
Ravalli, Accolti, Nobili, Vercruisse, some lay broth- 
ers and six Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. 

The news of his arrival reaching the Vicar General 
at St. Paul on the 10th, he was at Vancouver on the 
following day; and the religious caravan reached St. 
Paul on the 17th, and took up their quarters in the 
college. On Sunday the 18th, the Vicar General sang 
a high mass before an affluence of people, anxious to 



144 SKETCHES OF THE 

see the Sisters and new Fathers. On the following 
Thursday was sung a mass of thanksgiving. Father 
De Smet took a land claim on lac Ignace, and had in 
a few months a house built on the high land near the 
lake, for the residence of his fathers. Father De 
Smet started on Oct. 6 for the Rocky Mountains; 
from whence Father De Vos arrived at St. Paul on 
the 13th, on horseback, bringing with him two lay 
brothers. The Sisters entered into their convent on 
Oct. 19th, and had a mass celebrated in the interior 
chapel the following day; Fathers De Vos and Ac- 
colti entered their new house called St. Ignace. 

On November 4th two Briefs arrived, one Brief 
making the mission of Oregon into a Vicariate 
Apostolic, and the other Brief appointing the 
Vicar General, F. N. Blanchet, to the position, 
with the title of Philadelphia, which, on representa- 
tion to Rome from Quebec, was changed into that of 
Drasa, on May 4th, 1845. The addresses of his let- 
ters from Canada betraying his case, felicitations 
were tendered to the Vicar General, but he refused 
them for several days. His consultation being an- 
swered, it was useless to refuse, so he gave his con- 
sent on the 8th, and made a resolution to go to Can- 
ada to receive his episcopal consecration from the 
Archbishop of Quebec, and hence to go and visit 
Rome. 

Rev. M. Demers was appointed vicar general and 
administrator of the vicariate apostolic during the 
absence of the Bishop elect, by letters of Nov. 25th. 
A mandate was issued, and on Dec. 5th, 1844 the 
Bishop elect crossed the bar on board of the Bark 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OBEGON. 145 

Columbia, Captain Duncan, en route for Canada, via 
England. The Belgian bark, IJinfaf.igable, was 
detained by contrary winds until the following 
day. 



The Fight at Oregon City, March 4th., 1844. Ex- 
tract from the Missionary Report of the Vicar 
General in 1844, on the Occasion. 

"We arrived from Cowlitz to the Wallamette f all 
on March 2nd, after a painful journey of 5 days. After 
having installed the pastor of Oregon City into his 
house, I returned to Vancouver. I soon learned 
what a crowd assisted at the Mass and Vespers of the 
first Sunday, March 3rd. The evil-one did not allow 
the Missionary to enjoy long this fine outset, for the 
following day the human blood began to stream in a 
fight in which an Indian instantly succumbed and 
two Americans were wounded . Alas ! what a mis- 
fortune ! what shall be the consequences? And 
for what that broil ? For false reports. One Klika- 
tat Indian had been killed, he, his two wives and a 
baptized child, in the upper Clackamas river. Some 
one falsely accused the chief of the Molalis river In- 
dians of the crime. A most certain] report, even among 
the Indians, was that the massacre had been com- 
mitted by two slaves whom their master had mal- 
treated too much, and who had been seen returning to 
their land with the booty of their master. Dr. White 
who gave credit to the first reportf had promised a 
reward of $100 for the apprehension of said chief, 
living or dead. The chief of the Molalis did not ig- 



146 SKETCHES OF THE 

nore what liad appened. Conscious of his innocence, 
but well armed, he had come to the town, accompan- 
ied with four men. He Crossed over to the Indian 
side. During that time, there came the question to 
apprehend him. Dr. McLoughlin's store clerk re- 
marked : "That Indian is a good man, you should 
not molest him ; if you do, you will repent !" No 
matter, the Doctor's secretary (Le Breton) and a 
Mulatto persisted ; and asked him to surrender on 
his return. He refuses; they insist; he defends him- 
self ; the Mulatto is ordered to shoot, the shot starts, 
and the Indian is wounded. He rushes on his ag- 
gressors, who run away. He was nearly overtaking 
the secretary, who, turning, seized the muzzle of the 
pistol with his right hand, the shot starts, and enters 
and passes through his arm ; the Indian staggers 
and falls, and the Mulatto finishes him with the butt 
end of his gun. The four other Indians begin to 
shoot with guns or arrows ; Americans come at the 
noise, and return fire, but without catching them, 
aud having two men wounded. The first, Le Breton, 
died in three days. There was found two balls in his 
elbow and the wad further. The second died 12 
days after from the shot of an arrow in the left arm. 
The shaft had been immediately drawn away, but 
the iron remained, which could not be extracted but 
after death. Both died in dreadful sufferings. It is 
probable that they were poisoned. The last was but 
a spectator; the greater part of the Americans did 
not know what wa$ the matter." 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 147 

LETTE31 OF REV. SI. DE.HERS TO THE VICAR GENERAL. 

Oregon City, March 6th, 1844. 
Very Eev. Sir : — I did not suffer myself to be intimidated 
by the affray of the other day. I heard the musket shots 
closely succeeding, but I made light of them, till I saw men 
running backward and forward in the streets, loading their 
pistols and carbines. I asked what it was? "An Indian 
fight,'' was the answer. Le Breton has received two ar- 
rows, one in the arm and the other in the thigh, I think. 
There was such a confusion that 25 Indians as brave and 
determined as they were, could have killed all the settlers. 
The Indians of the other side say that the deceased had 
come to have a talk with the whites, in order to disculpate 
himself from the charge made against him. The Mulatto, 
Winslo, on seeing him, said "that is the man who would kill 
him," and for whose capture Dr. White had promised a re- 
ward of $100, which Le Breton has gained. I have seen 
the poor Indian ; he was still breathing. But, barbar- 
ity ! the negro who said it was he who pierced his hat 
with a bullet, did pierce him after he was dead ; and, in 
the morning, his head had been found split and entirely 
separated above the forehead, and the brains still clung to 
the axe which had been the instrument for such savage cru- 
elty. Heorrendum est ! In another letter of March 7th, 
to the same, Rev. M. Demers adds: "The settlers seem 
to acknowledge they have been too quick, in this unfortu- 
nate affair ; but the unlucky deed is over ; it is a true 
murder ; based upon the extremely rash and unjusti- 
fiable action of poor Le Breton who will pay dear for his 
apostasy and crime." 



The merit and glory of an historian is to be a true 
and faithful narrator of facts. If he fails in this, his 
veracity will be doubted in the [most important points. 
This being so, what shall be thought of the history 



148 SKETCHES OF THE 

of Oregon by W. H. Gray, when all will learn how 
shamefully he has distorted and falsified the facts 
concerning the fight of March 4th. For it is false 
that the Indians of the vicinity of Oregon City made 
an attack on the town. It was by no means an at- 
tack ; not one of the Clackamas, nor of the Wallam- 
ette fall, but five of the Molalis only took part in the 
fight. It is false that the Indians commenced the 
fight. It is false that the chief was placed under 
guard and was killed when attempting to escape. 
It is false that the Indians made an attempt to des- 
troy the people and town at Wallamette fall. It is 
false that there was any need to stir up the whole 
country, to organize for defense, as all the Indian 
tribes were never so peaceable as they were then, 
having no reason to molest them, as their fisheries, 
hunting-places and camas prairies had not yet been 
taken away from them. It is false that the Company 
had any thing to fear from the Indians; if the fort 
was repaired, bastions built, and all other protective 
and defensive measures were completed, it was to 
defend itself against another kind of savageness. 



Missionary Labors in 1845 and 1846. 



When the Bishop elect left for Canada, December 
1844, the missionary stations were attended as fol- 
lows; Cowlitz by Rev. A Langlois, Fort Vancouver 
by Father Nobili, Oregon City by Father Accolti, 
St. Paul by Vicar General Demers, St. Joseph's Col- 
lege by Eev. Z. Bolduc, and the Sisters by Father 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 149 

De Vos. According to the best calculation, the In- 
dian population at that time numbered 110,000, of 
which, 6,000 were Christians; about half of them 
being at the Rocky Mountains and the remainder m 
the lower part of Oregon. The white Catholic pop- 
ulation was about 1,000, of which 600 were in the 
Wallamette Valley, 100 at Vancouver, 100 at Cow- 
litz, and the rest in the various trading posts. The 
Jesuit Fathers had four missions at the Rocky Moun- 
tains in 1843, viz: St. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Peter 
and St. Michael: The Coeur D'Alene was one of 
them. 

By a letter from administrator Demers, dated Oct. 
8th, 1845, and other notes, the Bishop Elect learned 
the following : Father Nobili had left in June with 
the Brigade of the North for New Caledonia, Father 
De Smet visited lower Oregon at the end of June, 
Father De Vos had the care of Oregon City and Fort 
Vancouver, and Father Accolti was chaplain of the 
Sisters at St. Paul. The priest house was finished 
at Oregon City, and the church much advanced. 
The church built by Father Verecruisse at La Grande 
Prairie was soon to be blessed and opened for di- 
vine service. Father Ravalli had left for the Rocky 
Mountains. Sixty thousand bricks had been burnt 
for the new church at St. Paul's. St. Joseph's Col- 
lege, containing 28 boarders, being too small, had 
been enlarged with a second story, by its principal 
Father Bolduc. The good rcligieuses of Notre Dame 
de Namur were overburdened with occupations in the 
care and teaching 42 little girls, and a chapel meas- 
uring 80 x 30 feet was in course of construction for 
them. 



150 SKETCHES OF TEE 

The chapel at Oregon City was blessed an d opened 
for divine service on Septuagesima Sunday, Feb. 8th, 
1846, in the presence of a large concourse of Protes- 
tants. From that date the church is full on 
Sundays, a number of people attending service 
through being desirous of seeing the impressive cere- 
monies of our church and hear the explanation of its 
dogmas. The corner-stone of St. Paul's brick church 
was blessed by Vicar General Demers, on May 24th, 
1846, and the church was dedicated and opened for 
divine service on Nov. 1st of the same year. It was the 
first brick building that was erected in the country, 
measuring 100 feet by 45, with wings or chapels of 
20 feet, its belfry shows the sign of our redemption, 
and stood 84 feet from the ground, At Vancouver, 
in 1845, Chief factor Douglas having desired the 
erection of a Catholic church, one was put up and 
shingled. Governor Mc Laughlin was preparing to 
leave the Hudson Bay Co., and retire to Oregon City. 
"I was forgetting to say a word or two about the 
political state of the country/' says the Vicar Gen- 
eral Demers; "a provisory government had been 
established, Mr. George Abernethy is Governor, the 
Hudson Bay Company joins in with the provisory 
government; Vancouver, Cowlitz and Nesqualy form 
a district of which chief factor Douglas is the judge 
in chief." This vindicates and proves to be false the 
charges formerly made that said company was 
opposed to a provisory government. If the Hudson 
Bay Co. opposed the establishment of a provisory 
government in 1841, no one couLl wonder or blame 
it, as Commodore Wilkes himself was opposed to it, 
on the ground that it was premature 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 151 

On the occasion of the foregoing, we wish to cor- 
rect a great mistake made in a lecture by an eminent 
judge, saying of Very Kev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. 
M. Demers; "they were subjects of Great Britain, 
and their influence and teaching among the people 
was naturally in favor of the authority and interest 
of the Hudson Bay Co. They discouraged the early 
attempts at the formation of a settlers government in 
the country/' All this is entirely inaccurate; they 
being British subjects had nothing to do with their 
teaching, nor would naturally lead them "to teach 
their people in favor of the authority and interest of 
a fur company." A higher sense of feeling than this 
was their rule ; they had a conscience and a faith. 
Nor did they ever discourage the early attempts of 
a settlers government, either within or outside of their 
churches. When, during the meeting in June, 1841, 
Vicar General Blanchet gave his opinion that it was 
too soon, that, as Commodore Wilkes was expected 
here, the committee should wait for his opinion. 
That step was by no means an act of opposition, but 
on the contrary an act of prudence, which the com- 
modore approved of at St. Paul, on June 7th, on 
the ground that the country was too young. And 
also, on a later occasion, when he begged that his 
name be erased from those of the committee, 
that was done in no sense of opposition but for want 
of time. In a word, let all comprehend that the two 
Catholic missionaries understood too well the deli- 
cacy of their position in this new and unsettled coun- 
try, to commit such imprudent blunders. 

The Catholic Church was progressing at Oregon 



152 SKETCHES OF THE 

City under the teaching of Father De Vos, whose 
sermons were touching. On July 31, he received the 
profession of faith from Dr. Long and lady and 
Miss Cason. In 1846, the following became converts, 
viz: Hon. P. H. Burnett, June 7th; Miss Walter 
Rogers, Aug. 3d; Maria E. Mc Laughlin, (Mrs. 
widow Rae), Oct. 4th; and in 1847, Fendell Car 
Cason, Feb. 28; and W. Wood, aged 77 years, Mch. 
7th. St Paul had also its converts in the persons of 
Mr Johnson, and a learned doctor and his lady, 
which were very edifying. No one dared to ask the 
doctor why he had returned to his ancestors religion. 
Three or four thousand immigrants are expected this 
year. The good doctor Long had the misfortune to 
get drowned while crossing the Clackamas river on 
horseback, ten or eleven months after his conversion. 
His remains were buried in the enclosure of the 
church of Oregon City, by Father De Vos, in the 
beginning of June or July, 1846. 

Condition of the Mission at the end of 1844 



A deputation of Indians came down from New 
Caledonia to Vancouver, in 1844, to call for a mis- 
sionary. The number of priests not permitting their 
petition to be granted, they returned home sorrowful. 
Father De Smet having brought some priests, Father 
Nobili started in 1845 for Caledonia. In 1846 anoth- 
er Father went to assist him, returning, they came 
back in the spring of 1847. Mostly all the Indian 
tribes of Caledonia had been instructed and baptized. 

At the end of 1844, after six years of efforts, dispro* 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 153 

portioned with the needs of the country, the vast 
mission of Oregon, on the eve of its being erected 
into a vicariate apostolic, had gained nearly all the 
Indian tribes of the Sound, Caledonia, and several of 
the Rocky Mountains, and lower Oregon. It had 
brought 6,000 pagans to the faith. Nine missions 
had been founded; five in lower Oregon, and four at 
the Rocky Mountains. Eleven churches and chapels 
had been erected, five in lower Oregon, two in Cale- 
donia, and four at the Rocky Mountains. One thou- 
sand Canadians, women and children, had been 
saved from the imminent peril of losing their faith. 
The schemes of the Protestant ministers had been 
fought and nearly annihilated, especially atNesqualy, 
Vancouver, Cascades, Clackamas, and Wallamette 
Falls, so that a visitor came in 1844 and disbanded 
the whole Methodist Mission, and sold its property. 
The Catholic Mission possessed two educational es- 
tablishments, one for boys and the other for girls; 
the number of its missionaries had been raised from 
eight, (four secular and four regular priests), to 
fifteen, without speaking of the treasure the mission 
had in the persons of the good Religieuses of Notre 
Dame de Namur. Such were the results obtained in 
spite of the want of missionaries, which greatly im- 
paired all their efforts. 



Bishop elect Journey to Canada, Rome, and return 
to Oregon. 



The bark Columbia sailed from Astoria to Honolu- 
lu in 26 days. She stayed there 12 days which the 



154 SKETCHES OF THE 

Bishop elect spent with the Piepus Fathers, who had 
a splendid stone church measuring 150 feet, a large 
congregation and a beautiful Sunday service. The 
bark leaving Honolulu on Jan. 12th, 1846, doubled 
Cape Horn March 5th, and reached Deal, England, 
May 22nd, being five months and eighteen days from 
Astoria. The Bishop elect passed to Dover and from 
thence to London, where he remained for ten days, 
the guest of Mr. Tabbe Mailly, pastor of the French 
chapel in London. Embarking at Liverpool on June 
4th, he reached Boston on the 19th, and Montreal, 
Canada, on the 24th. A few days after he arrived at 
Quebec, whose venerable church at that time was 
draped in mourning on the occasion of the burning 
of its suburb, St. Roch, a month before, and that of 
St John a few days previous. 

Being unable to receive his episcopal consecration 
at Quebec, the Bishop elect determined to receive 
it at Montreal, with Bishop elect, Prince coadjutor of 
Montreal, the ceremony having to take place on 
July 25th. The consecrator was the Jume and Rire 
Bishop of Montreal. There were present on the oc- 
casion,five bishops, besides the two elects, 150 priests 
50 other clerics, and an immense crowd of faithfuls. 
Canada had never witnessed a festival of such splen- 
dor before. It was in Canada that the Bishop of 
Philadelphia in part, learned that his title had been 
changed into that of Drasa, in May 7th, 1844. After 
passing a month and a half in Canada, the bishop of 
Drasa left for Boston, July 12th, reached Liverpool, 
passed some days in London, went through Brighton, 
Dieppe, Rouen, and reached Paris on Sept. 8th, tak- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 155 

ing his lodging at the Brothers of St. Jean De 
Dieu. 

The Bishop of Drasa had a great task to perform 
before returning to his vicariate; which was to ob- 
tain from Rome some assistant bishops, to look for 
new missionaries and new sisters, and collect funds 
to enable him to buy the requisites for his vicariate, 
and pay the freight upon them and also the passage 
of the missionaries. All this required much time 
and travelling, and going backward and forward. 
Hence, it took twelve months, from Oct. 1845 to Oct. 
1846, to look for help and funds, followed by waiting* 
nearly five months for a ship in which to return 
home. 

His first trip and visit was to Belgium in order to 
secure new Religieuses of Notre Dame de Namur. 
On his way he passed through Cambrai, Douwai, 
Lille, Gand, Marines and Bruxelles. All who heard 
of his mission became deeply interested in it. His 
second visit was to Rome. Leaving Paris on Dec. 
17th,he spent the festivals of Christmas at Marseilles, 
and reached the holy city on Jan. 5th, 1846. He 
soon obtained an audience and was received several 
times by His Holiness Pope Gregory XVI. The 
four months he passed in the eternal city were well 
employed. He presented to the sacred congregation 
of the Propaganda a memorial on the condition and 
wants of his vicariate. He visited the four great 
Basilicas and other great churches and monuments. 
He descended to the Catacombs several times, and 
obtained the relics of four holy bodies of martyrs for 
his vicariate, viz: S. Jovian, S. Severin, S. Flavie 



156 SKETCHES OF THE 

and S. Victoire. Leaving Rome on the 8th of May, 
for Paris, he visited on his way, Livourne, Genes, 
Marseilles, Avignon, Lyon, and Chalons. He stayed 
some days at Avignon,and remained a week at Lyon, 
the guest of the Grand Seminaire. He had been 
allowed to address its 300 seminarists, three of them 
soon presented themselves for the mission of Oregon; 
they were B. Delorme, F. Veyret, and J. F. Jayot. 
He assisted, on that occasion, on May 24th, to the 
episcopal consecration of Mgr. Pavy, Bishop of Al- 
giers. 

Having already visited the principal towns of Bel- 
gium with much success . in 1845, the Bishop of 
Drasa directed his steps this year towards Prussia 
Bavaria, and Austria. Leaving Paris, June 17, he 
went first to Liege and assisted, on the 21st, at the 
grand procession of Corpus Christi, at which were 
present 17 bishops, a large number of priests and an 
immense religious crowd. It was the jubilee of the 
VI century of the festival which took its birth in 
the Church of St. Martin. He then visited Venders, 
Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, and next, in descending 
the Rhine, Bonn, Coblentz, Mayence, Francfort, 
Achaffenbourg; after which passing through Wurz- 
burg, and Donavert he reached Munich where he 
spent 8 days; the guest of the barefooted Fathers of 
St. Augustin. And descending the Danube, he next 
visited Passau, Lintz, and Vienne, where he remain- 
ed three weeks, the guest of the Redemptorist Fa- 
thers. On returning he visited Augsburg, and 
Strasburg, where he remained a week, the guest of 
its illustrious bishop. And on August 21st he was 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 157 

again in Paris, the guest of the seminary of foreign 
missions. 

It was on his return to Paris that he learned his 
vicariate had been erected, by Briefs of July 24th, 
1846, into an ecclesiastical province, with the three 
sees of Oregon City, Walla Walla, and Vancouver 
Island ; and that the Vicar Apostolic was called to 
the metropolis of Oregon City; Rev. A. M. A. Blan- 
chet, Canon of Montreal, to that of Walla Walla, 
and Vicar General Demers to that of Vancouver 
Island. 

In the course of his long rounds, the Bishop 
of Drasa met everywhere with the warm sympathies 
of Nuncios, archbishops, bishops, pastors of churches? 
and the highest authority of each state. He was re- 
ceived in audience by their majesties the King and 
Queen of Belgium; by his majesty the King of Ba- 
varia; by their I. M. the Emperor and Empress Mo- 
ther, and his highness the Archduke Louis of Aus- 
tria; and three times by his majesty Louis Philippe, 
King of France. 

The sympathies of King Louis Philippe for the 
great mission of Oregon prompted him to grant a 
free passage to the archbishop and his missionary 
companions on the vessels of the royal navy; but this 
favor becoming impossible by unexpected circum- 
stances, he ordered their excellencies, Mr. Guizot, 
minister of the interior, and Mr. Makau, minister of 
the marine, to pay each 7,200 fr, as an indemnity for 
the expense the delay might put him to. This added 
to the 3,000 fr the King had already given him, on 
his return from the East, made the fine round sum 



158 SKETCHES OF THE 

of 17,800 fr received from the Government. God 
bless La belle France for such a gift ! 

The passage on the government vessel failing, the 
Oceanic Maritime Society came forward, offering a 
passage in October; but that failing, three Belgian 
vessels offered themselves, but were found too small 
to accomodate 22 passengers. The Oceanic Maritime 
Society then bought a vessel which was expected to 
start at the end of December. On learning that, the 
archbishop went to Namur, returning with the Sisters 
to Paris, on Dec. 22nd; but that was a month too 
soon, as the vessel was not ready at that time. The 
missionaries had also their trouble of coming several 
times to Paris for departure and being obliged to re- 
turn elsewhere to save town expenses. At last, the 
vessel leaving Havre for Brest on Jan. 9th, 1847, the 
archbishop and missionaries left Paris on Jan. 20th, 
and reached Brest on the 23rd; but the vessel had 
not yet completed her cargo. It is but just to men- 
tion here that the pious Leopoldine Society of Vi- 
enne, the directors of the railroad in Belgium and 
France, and the Messageries Boy ales gave a distin- 
guished mark of their sympathies in favor of the 
Oregon mission; the first in tendering 4,000 florins; 
the second by granting the archbishop and sisters 
with their baggage, a free pass on the railroad from 
Namur to Paris; and the last in allowing persons 
and baggage to pass at half fare from Paris to Brest. 

The bark was blessed and called L'Etoile du Matin 
by the archbishop, on Feb. 2nd, in presence of a 
religious crowd. The wind being favorable, all went 
on board on the 10th; but the following day being a 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 159 

dead calm all returned on shore. At last, after a 
month's delay at Brest, the I/Etoile du Matin, Capt. 
Menes, put to sea on Feb. 22nd, 1847. The religious 
colony she carried was composed of 22 persons, in- 
cluding the archbishop, viz: the seven sisters of 
Xotre Dame de Namur; the 3 Jesuit Fathers, Gaets, 
Gazzoli, and Menestrey, and 3 lay brothers; the five 
secular priests, LeBas, McCorraick, Deleveau, Pretot, 
and Veyret; the two deacons, B. Delorme and J. F. 
Jayol, and one cleric, T. Mesplie : the department 
of the sisters was pretty good. A long saloon and a 
long table was common to all. An altar had been 
fixed at the after part of the ship, whereon holy 
masses were celebrated every day, on the rel- 
ics of the four holy martyrs. Sunday and evening 
services, on deck, were very solemn and impressive. 
Prayer, reading and study were the daily occupations 
of the missionaries. The beauties of the vast sea 
and of the spangled vault, especially of the southern 
bright starry firmament at night were subjects of pro- 
profound meditation on the powerful creating hands 
of God : "the heavens show forth the glory of God; 
and the firmament declare th the work of his hands ; 
wonderful are the surges of the sea; wonderful is 
the Lord on high;" 

Yes, a thousand times yes, he who said to Simon : 
f, Thou art Peter, (a rock) and upon this rock I will 
build my Church and the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it," is the same God, the Son 
of God, "who made all things, and without 
whom was made nothing that was made." And 
yet, alas ! there have been found pigmies, and 



160 SKETCHES OF THE 

worms of the earth, men so perverse as, while believ- 
ing the power of God in creating the heavens and 
earth, proudly and insultingly deny Him the same 
efficient power in building His infallible Church for 
the salvation of souls created to His own image and 
likeness; and who foolishly began a pretended refor- 
mation. Great God !. What nonsense ! what folly ! 
what horrible blasphemy ! 

The sailing of the bark was generally smooth with 
the exception of two heavy storms; the first which 
came on a sudden from the west, on the parallel of 
Rio Janeiro, and lasted 24 hours, carried the bark 
some hundred miles out of her course. It was a real 
tempest; the second one lasted eight days during 
which the wind was very high and contrary, and the 
sea heavy, when turning from south to north in the 
Pacific. On both occasions the captain appeared 
very uneasy. 

The land of promise appeared at last on Aug. 8th, 
and the bark arrived 12 miles of Cape Disappoint- 
ment. She remained outside five days for want of a 
pilot and wind. At last, having been five months 
and twenty-three days from Brest, and under the 
pilotage of Reeves, she crossed the bar safely and 
entered the Columbia river late in the afternoon of 
Aug. 13th, 1847, and cast anchor in Gray's Bay. 
Then it was that the missionaries, in their exceeding 
great joy, chanted a Te Deum, which the echoes of 
Cape Disappointment and the neighboring hills re- 
peated with emulation. On the 17th of August the 
I/Etoile du Matin got aground at the mouth of the 
Wallamette; and on the 19th, the sisters and mis- 



HUFvCH IX < ■ • 161 

sionaries left her for St. Paul, which they reached on 
Saturday the 26th, late at night. The archbishop 
left her on the 25th, celebrated a mass in the cathe- 
dral at Oregon City on the 26th, reached Champoeg 
the following day, and from thence, accompanied by 
a large concourse of Catholics and Protestants, he 
entered the church at St. Paul vested with episcopal 
robe, mosetta, crosier and mitre. After the Te Deum 
and Benediction of the blessed Sacrament, and ap- 
propriate words of the archbishop, all retired happy. 
The bishop elect had been two years and seven 
months absent, 



Rejoicings i .-■:;. Archdiocese. Arrival of the 
Bishop of Walla Walla. Consecration of Bish- 
op Demees. Condition of the Dioceses. 

From the arrival of the Archbishop to the sad even^ 
which put the Catholic missions of Oregon upon a 
brink of their ruin, there was but festivities and re- 
joicings in the Archdiocese, especially at St. Paul. 
The presence of the Archbishop in the Church, on his 
throne, with episcopal insignia, surrounded by a 
numerous clergy , the beauty of the chant, music and 
solemnity of the service, were drawing the faithful 
who could not be weary of contemplating the beau- 
ties of the house of God. 

On Sundays, August 29th, and September 5th.,the 
Archbishop mounted the pulpit, and gave some de- 
tails of his journey. On the 3rd Sunday, he adminis- 
tered the Sacrament of Confirmation to a large num- 
ber of persons. On the 4th Sunday, he made an 



162 SKETCHES OF THE 

ordination, raising Deacon Joyal to the priesthood. 
On the 5th Sunday, he gave Confirmation at fort 
Vancouver. On the 6th, 7th, and 8th Sundays, he 
was at St. Francis Xaverius mission .of Cowlitz, where 
he remained two weeks and which, then, contained 
25 families, 186 souls, of whom 130 adults and 56 
children, and 74 communicants. He confirmed there 
50 persons, celebrated High Mass on the 2nd and 
3rd Sunday; the office before noon and afternoon 
was made solemn by the plain chant and the singing 
of French impressive canticles by the two choirs of 
men and viomen. He witnessed once more the suc- 
successful efforts of the two first missionaries in 
teaching, in the French missions, the first couplet of 
a large number of French canticles, which were sung 
on Sundays and week days, by the whites as well as 
by Indians in paddling their canoes. He was at St. 
Paul on the 9th Sunday ; made an ordination in 
October 31, that of Deacon Delorme to the priest- 
hood. On the following clay, All Saints, aPontificial 
High Mass was celebrated with a solemnity, as to 
chant, music and ceremonies, not witnessed before. 
In fine, the 30th of November, ]847, feast of the 
Apostle St. Andrew, falling on a Tuesday, pat the 
crown to all the previous festivities and rejoicings of 
the faithful, by the episcopal consecration, which the 
Bishop-Elect of Vancouver Island received in the 
Church of St. Paul, on that day, at the hands of the 
Archbishop, in the presence of a numerous clergy 
and a large number of faithful. "While the Archbish- 
op was on sea, sailing for his Archdiocese, the Bishop 
of Walla Walla, who was consecrated on September 



CATHOLIC i [1 >RE<H)N. 163 

27th, 1816, left Montreal for St. Louis, in March 
181:7. Commencing from there a journey of five 
months, in wagon, on the plains, he reached Fort 
Walla Walla on September 5th, seven days after the 
arrival of the Archbishop at St. Paul. He was ac- 
companied with nine persons, viz : four Fathers, O. 
M« I., of Marseilles and two lay brothers ; and two 
secular priests. Rev. Father Brouillet, V. G., of 
Walla Walla, Rev. Mr. Reasseau and Guillaume 
Leclaire, a Deacon. He was heartily received 
by the commandant of the fort, Mr McBrean 
and family, who were Catholics, and treated, with his 
clergy, with great attention and respect. 

By the arrivals from France and Canada, the 
ecclesiastical Province of Oregon City possessed in the 
• Fall of 1S47 3 Bishops, 14 Jesuit Fathers, 4 Oblate 
Fathers of M. J., 13. Secular priests, including a 
Deacon ordained in 1849, and a cleric, T. Mesplie, 
ordained in May 1851), 13 Sisters and two houses of 
education. 

The Archbishop started with 10 priests including 
T. Mesplie, two Jesuit Fathers at St. Ignaces resi- 
dence, 13 Sisters and two educational houses. The 
Bishop of Walla Walla was starting with 3 

cular priests including a Deacon, 4 Oblate 
Fathers of M. J., and 12 Jesuit Fathers at the Rocky 
Mountains. The Bishop of Vancouver Island had 
not even one priest to accompany him to Victoria. 
Such was the situation on the eve of a most eminent 
danger. 

The whole mission of Oregou having been divided 
the thre< omprised, to the See of 



I8& SKETCHES OF ' THE 

Vancouver Island were attached the districts of New 
Caledonia and Prince Charlotte Island ; to the See 
of Oregon City was attached the district of Nesqualy; 
the See of Walla Walla were attached these districts 
of Colville and fort Hall. On a later occasion, the 
Columbia river and parallel 46 became the line of 
division between the dioceses of Oregon City and 
Nesqualy from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains. 

The three Sees and the districts attached to them 
contained numerous tribes of Indians, who had been 
visited several times by the Catholic missionaries and 
converted in great part to the Catholic faith ; they 
were calling for priests since 1838. The time had 
arrived to see their earnest desires accomplished. 
This was to be the case of the Cayuses living on the 
Umatilla, their camp being 80 miles from anoth- 
er Cayuse camp situated on the Walla Walla, a few 
miles from the fort. The first camp was Catholic at 
heart, and their chief Tamutowe ottered a home to 
the Bishop. 

The Diocese of Walla Walla had this speciality, 
that it had already three Presbyterian missions ; one 
at Waitlatpu, on the Walla Walla, among the Cay- 
uses mentioned above, established in 1886, by Dr. 
Whitman ; another at Lapwai, on the Clearwater, 
six days journey from the Walla Walla fort, estab- 
lished in 1836 among the Nez Perces by minister 
Spalding ; and the last established in 1838 by Mr. 
Ells among the Sj)okanes. Hence the trouble, the 
Bishop being regarded as an intruder. 

The object of the Fathers, O. M. I., being the 
evangelization of the Indians, they left fort Walla 



CATHOUC CHURCH IN OEEGON. 185 

Walla with Father Richard, their superior, early in 
October, to go and found a mission among the Indi- 
ans of Yakima. The Bishop of Walla Walla left the 
fort, with his clergy, for the Catholic camp of the 
Cayuses, on October 27th., and reached the place the 
same day, a Saturday. 

The arrival of the Bishop of Walla Walla with his 
clergy to the fort was a thunderbolt to the Presby- 
terian ministers, specially to Dr. Whitman. He was 
wounded to the heart by it. He could not refrain 
from expressing his great dissatisfaction, saying he 
would do all in his power to thwart the Bishop. Such 
was the situation of affairs and the sad prospect of 
the Bishop, on Sunday, November 28th., the eve of 
the terrible tragedy which brought the Catholic miss- 
ions and its establishments in Oregon upon the brinfe 
of its ruin; for at the sight of the good already done 
and to be done by the army of the zealous mission- 
aries just arrived, the devil, shaking with anger and 
rage, resolved to make his last efforts to utterly ruin 
the Catholic clergy on this Coast; hence the horrible 
drama. 



The Dr. Whitman and Wife Mukder. 



The emigration of 1847 had brought dysentery and 
measles among the Protestant camp. 197 of them 
had succumbed to the epidemic. The Indians al- 
ready much displeased with their teacher, Dr. 
Whitman, for his lack of good faith and fidelity in his 
promises, suspected him of poisoning them. They 
were confirmed ia their suspicion by the report of a 
certain half-breed of the place, called Joseph Lewis, 



166 SKETCHES OF THE 

raised in the Eastern States, saying : "He had heard, 
at night, Dr. Whitman, his wife and minister Spald- 
ing speaking on the necessity to kill them, in order to 
seize their lands ;" and adding, "If you don't kill 
them, you will be all dead next Spring." Thereupon, 
the death of Dr. Whitman was resolved. 

On Sunday, the 28th,, six other Indians were bur- 
ied. On Monday, the 29th., 1847, after having bur- 
ied three other of their brethren, a certain number of 
them went to Dr. Whitman's establishment about 2 
or 3 p. m., and entered his yard, carrying weapons 
concealed under their blankets, while the few men 
were busy, they began their work of destruction, by 
butchering the Doctor, his wife and 8 other Americans 
that day. # 

On Monday, November 30th., the Vicar General 
having to go and baptize some sick children at the 
Protestant Cayuse camp according to promise, he 
started and arrived there at 7 p. m. There it was that 
he heard of the atrocious drama. He passed the 
whole night awake. On the morning of Dec. 1, after 
baptizing the children, he went to the dreadful place 
of the massacre, consoled the woman kept in the 
Doctor's house, washed the bodies and buried them 
with the assistance of a Frenchman called Standfield 
who had been spared ; and all that in the presence of 
the murderers ; and going once more to console the 
women, he started in haste in order to meet and save 
Minister Spalding's life who was coming on that day 
from the Cayuse camp to the Doctor's house. 



catholic church in oregon. 167 

Narrow Escape of Mr. Spalding. — The Lives oe Fa- 
ther Brouillet, Bishop and Clergy* in Great Dan- 
ger — The Prisoners Redeemed and Carried to 
Oregon City by Chief Factor Ogpen. 



Father Brouillet was much pained w r hen,iii starting, 
he saw one of the murderers following him with his 
interpreter, who was an Indian. He had barely made 
3 miles when he observed the minister Spalding com- 
ing in, who at once called for news. The Vicar General 
hesitates, the minister urges him ; the Vicar General 
evades his questions and keeps an animated conver- 
sation with interpreter and murderer. He begs for 
mercy and the life of the minister ; the murderer hesi- 
tates, and says at last he must go and consult his 
friends, and forthwith starts at full speed, Then, 
Father Brouillet reveals to Mr. Splalding the horrors of 
% the slaughterer, the subject of his conversation w r ith 
the murderer, the object of his running back, and 
recommends him to take a determination at once, if 
he wishes to save his life, as the murderer will soon re- 
turn. Mr. Spalding is struck with terror ; he utters 
sad lamentations, asks many questions, and know r s 
not what to resolve upon. He asks and receives pro- 
visions, and Father Brouillet leaves him still talking 
with the interpreter. At last he rushes to the forest 
at dusk in the evening. The Vicar General had 
scarcely made a few miles w T hen he heard the racing 
trot of horses ; they were three men, and gave vent 
to their great displeasure when they did not see Mr. 
Spalding. From that day the life of Father Brouillet 
was not safe from danger. He was hold responsible 



168 SKETCHES OF THE 

for the escape of the minister. That night he passed 
also without sleep. 

On Thursday, December 2nd., he reached the young 
chief Tamatowe camp early. On learning the atroci- 
ious deed, the Bishop, and clergy, and the whole 
camp were struck with consternation. A few days 
after an express arrived from Fort Walla Walla, in- 
forming the Bishop that his life and the lives of the 
priests-were in great danger, on the part of a certain 
number of Indians who could not forgive Father 
Brouillet for having deprived them of the chance of 
adding another victim to the ten first ones. On the 
3rd., the Bishop assembled the chiefs, expressed the 
deep pain and sorrow he felt at the enormous crime, 
and recommended them earnestly to use their influ- 
ence in order to save the widows and orphans. The 
chiefs answered that they had no hand in the massa- 
cre, and would use their influence to save the lives of 
the captives. A few days later, a young man, who 
stayed in the Doctor's mill, 20 miles distant, was also 
killed ; the rest had the chance to escape. On the 
10th., the two sick men who were spared on the day 
of extermination, were drawn from their beds and 
cruelly massacred. On the 11th., one of the captives 
was carried away to the tent of one of the chiefs. 

On December 16th., the Bishop received a letter, 
dated 10th., from Mr. Spalding, relating the hard- 
ships of his six days travelling but at night, partly 
on foot, begging him to tell the Indians that the 
Americans would not make war ; and the Americans 
not to come for revenge, and to send his letter to the 
Governor. On December 20th., the great and subal- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OSEGON. 169 

tern chiefs repaired to the Bishop's house to hold a 
council before him and his clergy, in which after a 
long talk and deliberations, a manifesto was drawn, 
and given to the Bishop to be sent to the Governor 
with a letter from him. The Bishop availed himself 
of the occasion to recommend once more and earnest- 
estly that they who had carried away some of the 
captives, to return them without delay. 

As soon as the sad tidings of the Wailatpu mas- 
sacre had reached Fort Vancouver, Chief Factor Og- 
den, knowing the importance of a prompt action, 
started without delay to come to the help and rescue 
of the captives. On reaching Fort Walla Walla on 
December 19th, he sent an express to notify all the 
chiefs to come and assemble at the Fort. On a first 
invitation, the Bishop begged to be excused ; on a 
second, he came down with his clergy. The assem- 
bly took place on December 23rd. Chief Factor 
Ogden strongly deprecated the horrible massacre, 
threw the blame on the chiefs for not restraining the 
young men, and said he did not come on the part of 
the Americans, but only on the part of the Hudson 
Bay Company ; he would not promise peace, but 
would employ his influence to obtain it ; that he 
had come to redeem the prisoners, and expected he 
had not come in vain. The chiefs answered him that 
in consideration of his age, white hairs, and the as" 
surance that he was unable to deceive them, they 
would grant his request. The Nez Perces chiefs 
consented to release Mr. Spalding, his family and 
other Americans held as hostages. 

On December 29, the prisoners of Wailatpu, 51 in 



170 SKETCHES OF THE 

all arrived at the Fort ; those of Lapwai, 11 in all ar- 
rived on January 1st, 1848, under an escort of 50 
warriors. A high price was paid for all the captives. 
The following day w T as fixed for the departure, now 
most urgent on account of the strange rumors which 
circulated among the Indians, that the Americans 
were at the Dalles, coming for a revenge ; which ru- 
inors might in a moment make the Indians change 
their minds and try to keep the prisoners as hosta- 
ges. The Bishop accepted a passage on the boats ; 
he was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Rousseau, and by 
Father Richard, O. M. I. In spite of all the dili- 
gence made by Chief Factor Ogden, the boats ven- 
tured into the stream but at 2 p. m., just in time to 
escape. the 50 Cayuse warriorss who arrived scarcely 
an hour afterwards, to kill Mr. Spalding, and no 
doubt, keep the others as hostages. 

At the DalleR, the Minister Spalding showed the 
true spirit which animated him towards the Indians, 
q aite different from that expressed in his. letter to 
the Bishop of Walla Walla, in urging Major Lee to 
go in haste in order to take them by surprise ; and 
in designing to Major Magone those who deserved 
death, with the exception of five or six to be spared. 
The boats reached Fort Vancouver on January 8th. 
On the 10th Chief Factor Ogden delivered the pris- 
oners to the Governor at Oregon City, with the letter 
of Mr. Spalding to the Bishop, the manifesto of the 
chiefs, accompanied by the Bishop's letter to the 
Governor. The editors of the Oregon Spectator 
would publish but a part of Mr. Spalding's letter ; 
) mt Mr. Ogden saying, ''must publish all or noth- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH EN OREGON. 171 

ing," they consented, but with much repugnance. 
On Jan. loth, the Bishop of Walla Walla, after 
hard trials and eminent dangers arrived safe at St. 
Paul, the residence of his brother, the Archbishop 
of Oregon City, 

After the Bishop's departure, the Vicar General 
Brouillet left Fort Walla Walla and returned to 
Umatilla with Mr. Leclaire. He remained there till 
February 20th, in the midst of thousands of rumors 
of troops at the Dalles, of battles and of villages be- 
ing burnt. He had promised the cayuses of his mis- 
sion to remain with them as long as the peace would 
last ; so he did, in spite of many dangers on the part 
both of the Indians and the Americans. The first 
fight with the Americans haying taken place on Feb. 
19th, he thought he was disengaged from his word, 
and left the following day for Fort Walla Walla. 
But the Indians were so displeased with his depart- 
ure, that they plundered his house and set it on 
fire. And as the Commissioners called by the chiefs 
to treat on the peace were leaving on March 13th, he 
availed himself of the occasion to go down with his 
companion. He was accompanied by the Rev. 
Fathers Chirouze, Pandosy, and others of the Yak- 
ima mission; all en route for St. Paul of Wallamette. 

EFFECTS OF THE MURDER AND WAR UPON THE CATHOLIC AND 
PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 

The Murder of Dr. Whitman and others had the 
effect of bringing in eminent danger the lives of the 
Bishop and his clergy. The war which followed 
brought the Cayuse mission to an end only for a 
short time ; for a few months after, the Cayuses of 



172 SKETCHES OF THE 

Umatilla recalled their priests ; and the Bishop start- 
ed from Vancouver, June 4th, 1848 to return to them. 
He reached the Dalles, when he was forbidden to go 
further, by Mr. Lee, Superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs, and he began a mission at the Dalles, which 
was a part of his diocese. The Oblate Fathers re- 
turned unmolested to the Yakima mission, about the 
same time. Very different were the effects of the 
murder and war upon the Presbyterian Missions of 
Wailatpu, Lapwai and Spokane. They had for 
effects their total destruction forever ; for not only no 
Indians recalled their Ministers, but none of them 
would have been safe there. Knowing this, the min- 
isters Ells and Walker hastened to leave their Spo- 
kane mission at the beginning of the War under a 
strong escort. 

BLACK INGRATITUDE AND INFAMOUS CALUMNIES OF MR. SPAL- 
DING. THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN DANGER IN LOWER 
OREGON. A PETITION TO THE LEGISLATURE AGAINST 
THE PRIESTS. 

The loss of the ministers and their friends was 
too great not to be deeply felt. To their grief suc- 
ceeded fits of anger which they discharged upon the 
Bishop and his clergy. The minister Spalding shut- 
ting his soul to all the noble sentiments of gratitude, 
and forgetting all its duties, accused the Bishop and 
his clergy of having been the instigators of the hor- 
rible massacre. He published in the Oregon Amer- 
ican of 1848, an incorrect history of it, containing 
16 calumnious charges. Father Brouillet, in giving 
a true history of the massacre, boldly refuted the 
charges in a pamphlet of 107 pages, published by the 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 173 

Freeman 9 Journal in 1853, and republished by the 
Catholic Sentinel in 18G9. But the orally malicious 
charges of the minister, from the beginning had al- 
ready produced the evil fruits of deep and fatal im- 
pressions ; and the excitement became so great that 
the volunteers in starting said that their first shots 
would be for the Bishop and his priests ; and that, 
for several months, the Catholic Churches and es- 
tablishments in the Wallamette Valley were in the 
greatest danger of being burnt down. But not sat- 
isfied with that, the ministers became jealous in see- 
ing the Jesuit Fathers safe and quiet among the In- 
dians at the Rocky Mountains, the Oblate Fathers 
returning to their mission at Yakima, and the Bishop 
attending the prayers of the Umatilla Indians, en 
route for that mission, while they could not return. 
This being too much, they conceived the plan of a 
petition to be drawn up and largely signed, repeat- 
ing the infamous charges, and to be sent to the Leg- 
islature. It was presented, but by that time the 
good common sense of the people had made them 
right; two-thirds of the Legislature voted against it, 
and the officers of the army, their soldiers and the 
volunteers, becoming better acquainted with the 
true facts on reaching the seat of War, did homage 
to the truth in acknowledging the honorable and 
loyal conduct of the Bishop and his clergy. 

Father Brouillet's pamphlet in 1848, 1857, 1869, and 
1871. Charges renewed in 1869 and 1871 and an- 
swered in 1872. 

To those who never read Father Brouillet's pam- 
phlet, made in 1818, and published in 1853, and who 



174 SKETCHES OF THE 

desire to know its contents, we give the title of its 
five chapters, viz: 

1. The remote and immediate causes which led to 
the Whitman massacre. 

2. Documentary evidence proving the foregoing 
assertion. 

3. Eeview of the evidence adduced in the forego- 
ing chapter. 

4. Journal of the principal events that occurred in 
the Walla Walla country from the arrival of the 
Bishop and his clergy until the moment they left for 
the Wallamette valley. Letter of Father Brouilllet, 
from fort Walla Walla, March 2nd, 1848, to Col. 
Gilliam. Letter of H. H. Spalding, from Clear 
Water, Dec 10th, 1847, to the Bishop of Walla 
Walla. Meeting of the chiefs at the Bishop's house, 
and their manifesto. Arrival of chief factor Ogden, 
and redemption of the captives. The Bishop at the 
Dalles, en route for Umatilla. 

5. Summary of the principal accusations made by 
Mr. Spaldiug against the Catholic clergy of Walla 
Walla, with an answer to each of them. 

But this was not the end of the trouble; the char- 
ges were renewed; this time not by one minister on- 
ly, nor presented only to a territorial legislature for 
action; but by an army of ministers, and presented 
by them for action to the highest authority in the 
country, the Senate : for as the infamous and mali- 
cious charges made by II. H. Spalding against the 
Catholic clergy of Walla Walla, had reached the va- 
rious Protestant sects of Oregon and the Eastern 
States, and were believed by them as gospel truths; 



CATHOLIC CHUECH IX OREGON. 175 

and whereas, hostile to each other in principles, they 
are always ready to join together in an assault on 
the old mother church, they availed themselves of a 
chance of showing their hatred to her, 22 years after 
the massacre, on the following occasion. 

In 1857, a special agent of the Treasury Depart- 
ment, J. Ross Browne, was sent to the far West, to 
make a report on the condition of the aborigines, and 
the potent causes of war between them and the 
white settlers. On finding that Father Brouillet's 
pamphlet was an important document on the subject 
he embodied it in his report, which the TJ. S. con- 
gress published as Executive Document No. 38, 1859. 
The fact remained unnoticed for ten years, till on a 
sudden, during the year 1869, it drew the attention 
of *even Protestant associations, or sects in Oregon, 
and three in the Eastern States; and greatly aroused 
their ire, because "It severely reflected upon the de- 
voted missionaries of the American board." Hence, 
the many resolutions of each sect, severely blaming 
the action of the Senate, calling Father Brouillette's 
pamphlet, i: a libel on Oregon's history, and a gross 
and malicious calumny/' endorsing the most infa- 
mous charges of H. II. Spalding and ascertaining 
them, as if, after a lapse of 22 years, and so far 
from the spot, they had been eye witnesses, and 
had seen and heard all; whereas, Col. Gilliam, 
his soldiers, and the volunteers, on the spot 
two months after the massacre, becoming better ac- 
quainted with the facts, had exonerated the Bishop 
and his clergy from all blame: which the legislature 
did also in Dec. 1818, by rejecting the petition, re- 



176 SKETCHES OF THE 

peating the charges and demanding the expulsion of 
the priests from the Indian country. The action of 
these ten Protestant sects having been embodied in 
a pamphlet of 81 pages, the same was passed by Mr. 
Spalding to Mr. A. B. Meacham, Supt. Indian affairs 
in Oregon, and passed by him to Mr. Delano, Secre- 
tary of the Interior, who presented it to the Senate on 
Feb. 8, 1871, and is known as Executive Document 
No. 37, 1871, 

This executive document No. 37, 1871, was ably 
answered and victoriously refuted in 1872, by Father 
Brouillet, nnd the Catholic world: by the first in a 
pamphlet of 18 pages in double column, which the 
Catholic Sentinel reproduced in July and August, 
1872; and wherein he declares unreliable, and mali- 
cious the evidences of the ten churches, and proves 
that point of evidence under the following heads: 
1, Falsification of official reports; 2, falsification of 
depositions; 3, falsification of quotations; 4, falsity 
of statements; by the second in an article of 18 
pages in double column, to be found in the magazine 
of February, 1872; wherein it says of the executive 
document No. 37, 1871: u We have had recently 
placed before us an official document printed at 
the public expense for the edification of the United 
States Senate, and, no doubt, widely circulated 
throughout the union under the convenient frank of 
many pious inembers of Congress, in which are re- 
produced calumnies so gross, and falsehoods so 
glaring, that we consider it our duty not only to call 
public attention to it, but demand from our rulers at 
Washington by what right and authority they print 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IX OREGON. 177 

and circulate, under official form, a tissue of falsifi- 
cations, misrepresentations, and even forgeries, 
against the religion and the ministers of that religion 
which is professed by five or six millions of free 
American citizens." 

We give here below as a curiosity the strange 
names of the ten churches or associations mentioned 
above, viz: — 

The Oregon presbytery of the United Presbyterian 
church; the Oregon presbytery of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian church; the Oregon presbytery of the 
United Presbyterian church; the Congregational 
Association of Oregon; the Oregon annual conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal church; the Pleasant Bute 
Baptist church of Oregon; the Christian brotherhood 
of the State of Oregon; the Steuben presbytery of 
the Presbyterian church, New York; the citizens of 
Steuben, Alleghaney and Chemung counties, New 
York; the citizens of Oberlin, Ohio. 

Of these associations and hundreds of self-e 
lished churches, which obstinately and so constantly 
fight against the old mother Church of Christ, we 
would say: if these would allow to God as much wis- 
dom and sense as to a man willing to build a high 
fabric, they would understand that He who made the 
heavens and earth so perfect and so lasting for the 
sole enjoyment of man, must have made most perfect 
and lasting, that is, infallible, his church made for a 
higher object, the salvation of souls so dear to Him. 
Therefore, no need of the so-called Reforma- 
tion; tl the teaching of that ark is the sin 
of Oza; it b. and damnation. 



178 SKETCHES OF THK 

An Indian understands that at once, made tangible 
to him on the Catholic Ladder. 



Chronological Notes. 

1847. Rev. P. McCormick takes charge Oregon 
City, Sept. 6; and Rev. B. Delorme of St. Louis, 
French Prairie, on Nov. 3. The news of Dr. Whit- 
man's murder reaches Oregon City on Dec. 8, and is 
communicated to the legislature the following day. 

1848. The Bishop of Walla Walla arrives at St. 
Paul on Jan. 15. Mission of Rev. V. E. Deleveau 
to Fort Vancouver, Feb. 1. The archbishop confirms 
23 persons at Oregon City, Feb. 13th. The three 
bishops availing themselves ot the chance of their 
reunion at St. Paul w r ith a large number of clergy- 
men, hold the first provincial council of Oregon City, 
in that church, in Feb. 28, 29, and March 1, in which 
regulations for discipline, and 16 decrees were made 
which received later the approbation of the Holy See. 
On March 12, Bishop Demers leaves Fort Vancouver 
with the Spring Express, for Walla Walla, Colviile 
and the Rocky Mountains,, en route for Canada and 
Europe, in order to raise funds, and look for mission- 
aries for his Diocese. On May 4th, 1852, he was at 
Oregon City, en route for Victoria, wdiile the arch- 
bishop was assisting at the I Plenary Council at Bal- 
timore. Rev. J. F. Jayol is sent to Cowlitz, for the 
Nesqualy Mission, March 19. The Bishop of Walla 
Walla celebrates pontincally at St; Paul, on Easter 
Sunday, April 23. Mission of Rev. F. Veyret to the 
Sound, May 8. Bishop of Walla Walla leaves Van- 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 170 

couver, June 4, for his mission of Umatilla; arrived 
at the Dalles, being forbidden by tlie Supt. Indian 
Affairs to go further, he establishes the Dalles mis- 
sion of St. Peter. On Aug. 23, Admission *of the 
Fathers O. M. I., by the Archbishop, in the district of 
Nesqualy, to attend the Indians of the Sound, they 
established their mother house a mile from Olympia 
and from thence visited the Indians of the Bay. 

On Sept. 12, four Sisters of Notre Dame ar- 
rive at Oregon City for a residence. They oc- 
cupy the presbytery, and open their school on the 
15. Rev. J. Lionet, and Father Lampfrit, O. M. I. 
arrive over the plains in October. The archbishop 
leaves St. Paul for his residence at Oregon City, on 
Dec. 21. He passes a month at Mr. McKinley's, 
and rents a house from Mr. Pomeroy for the rest of 
the winter. Eev. J. Lionet is sent, Dec. 28, to es- 
tablish a mission at Astoria; instead of that he estab- 
lished it on the other side of the Columbia; on a land 
which he cultivates. 

The admission of the Oblate Fathers, in the district 
of Nesqualy, Aug. 23, 1818, having for object the 
care of the Indians on the Sound, Rev. Father Vey- 
res was recalled from the Bay and put in charge of 
St. Paul's in the beginning of September, same year. 

1849. Eev. A, Langlois leaves Oregon for Cali- 
fornia, in January. Gem Lane, first governor of the 
Territory, arrives at Oregon City, on March 9th. 

me day, Father Lampfrit is sent to Victoria 
during the absence of Bishop Demers. A large bri- 
gade composed of families of St. Paul, St. Louis and 
Vancouver, stares on May 19, with Rev. B. Delorme., 



180 SKETCHES OF THE 

for the California mines, discovered in 1848. Arri- 
ved on the spot, a burning fever decimate them; 40 
are carried away by the epidemic, viz; 20 heads of 
families* 13 single men and boys, 4 women and some 
children. Father Delorme exhausted with fatigue, 
is also seized by the fever and barely escapes the 
danger. 

St. Joseph College, St. Paul, is closed in June, in 
consequence of the California mines. On Saturday, 
June 9th, the Sisters of Notre Dame, of Oregon 
City, enter their new large house, built on a block 
given them by Dr. McLaughlin. On the following 
day, the archbishop blesses it and celebrates the first 
mass in its chapel. Deacon Gr. Leclaire is raised to 
the priesthood, Oct. 21. Be v. 13. Delorme returns 
from California by sea, and arrives Dec. 26. A pick- 
et of soldiers, under the command of Col. Backentos, 
passes the winter at Oregon City. Mrs. Backentos be- 
comes a convert to the faith and is baptized with all 
her children by the archbishop. 

1850. The murder of Dr. "Whitman and others 
had brought war against the Cayuse tribe. It lasted 
two years, (1848 and 1849) without catching one of 
the murderers. And while it caused the fall of the 
Presbyterian missions, it had the effect of increasing 
those of the Catholics by the establishment of St. 
Peter's at the Dalles, and converting five supposed 
Cayuse murderers from Presbyterianism to Catholic- 
ism. For the civil authorities absolutely requiring 
the extradition of the murderers, the Cayuse chiefs 
found at last fi.\e men who consented to go down, 
not as guilty, but to have a talk with the whites and 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OBEGON. 181 

explain all about the murderers, ten in number, who 
were no more, and who had been killed by the whites, 
the Cayuses and were all dead. Sent by the chiefs'on 
this message, they expected to return home: they 
vi ere delivered to Gov. Lane early in the spring, 
brought down to Oregon City and kept us prisoners. 
Their trial took place, ''Notwithstanding the priso- 
ners were pre-doomed to death/' says the "Biver of 
the "West"; therefore it was a sham trial which 
deeived no one; and they were sentenced, 
May 27, to be hung. The execution took place on 
June 3, at 2 p. m., before an immense crowd. On 
hearing their sentence, their thoughts were to save 
their souls, and call for the priest. The archbishop 
went to see them without delay, and continued to go 
twice a day to teach them and prepare them for bap- 
tism and death. The minister Spalding went early 
to see them, but they refused to hear him and pray 
with him. Such were the fruits of the eleven years 
of the doctor's teaching. They call the priest: had 
the priests counseled them to murder the Doctor, it 
would have been to assail them with reproaches. 

On the eve of their death, the old chief Kilo Kite 
and his fcur companions made a declaration in du- 
plicate, before Henry H. Crawford, sergeant, Co. D., 
R. M. B., and Bobert D. Mahon, corporal, Co. A., 
R. M. B,, declaring; the first that he was opposed, 
his two sons took part, and were killed; the second 
that he was absent, and came the day after; the third 
that he saw the deed, did not participate and was 
sorry; the fourth and fifth, that they are innocent 
I die for nothing: all declaring the priests never 



182 SKETCHES OF THE 

counseled the crime (see Catholic Sentinel, April 20, 
and 27, 1872, for full account.) On the forenoon of 
June 3, new questions were made, to the same effect. 
On that day they heard a low mass after which they 
received the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. 
At 2 p. m., the archbishop assisted by the Rev. F. 
Teyret, now a Jesuit, accompanied them to the scaf- 
fold, where the prayers for the dying were recited. 
Touching words of encouragement were addressed to 
them on the moment of being swung into the air: 
• s 'Onward, onward to heaven children : into thy hands 
O Lord Jesus, I commend my spirit." There is a 
shameful omission to be found in the "River of the 
West," as to how they died; Presbyterians, infidels, 
.or Catholics. A shameful and false charge is found 
there also, against the youngest of the five, of having 
been cruel to Jos. Meek's little girl at the time of the 
massacre, which is as true as the ridiculous story 
made by the marshal himself, saying: "One of them 
on the scaffold, begged me to kill him with my 
knife." A calumnious falsehood! the truth is that 
the old chief Kilo Kite proudly refused to let his 
hands be tied. But upon the archbishop showing 
him the crucifix, he became resigned and kej)t silence. 
That is one of the many inaccuracies to be found in 
the "River of the West." The following fact, so 
honorable to the citizens of Oregon City and all who 
joined with them, should not be omitted; that on 
hearing of the innocence of the five Cayuse prisoners 
they began to circulate a petition to get them a res- 
pite, their sympathies increased much more on learn- 
ing their declaration; but, the governor being absent, 
there was no one to skm it. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH IN OREGON. 



183 



Rev. T. Mesplie was ordained a priest on Mar 25, 
In answer to the request of the bishops assembled 
in council, at St. Paul's in 1848, there arrived from 
Rome, on Sept. 29, briefs bearing the date of May 
31, to the effect of creating the district of Nesqualy 
into a diocese, and transferring the bishop of Walla 
Walla to that see; and suppressing the diocese of 
Walla Walla and passing its administration and 
those of the districts of Colville and Fort Hall to the 
archbishop, in consequence of which the Bishop of 
Nesqualy leaves the Dalles, visits St. Francis Xavier 
mission of Cowlitz, and on Oct. 27, fixes his residence 
at Fort Vancouver. 

Having thus, brought our history of the Catholic 
Church in Oregon down to the present establishment 
of the three sees of Oregon City, Nesqualy, and Van- 
couver Island, we close our sketches. 




Addenda and Errata. 



i 



Wherever the word Willamette occurs it should read 
Wallamette. 

The letter of the Bishop of St. Louis, as well as the mat- 
ter on pages 18, 19, 20 and 21, is out of place. This will be 
placed correctly in next edition. 

On page 13 for Plattes, read Plates; page 29, for abound- 
ing, read surrounding ; page 37, for is, read was ; page 37, 
for Winnipeg, read Mpissing; page 39, for ten, read eleven; 
page 40, line 9, should be, Edmonton, also called Fort des 
Prairies, in charge of Chief Factor John Rowand ; page 47, 
for Towatowe, read for Tawatowe ; page 48, add church be- 
fore vestments ; paragraph on page 48 should read as fol- 
lows : 

On Wednesday, the 21st, we saw on the same side La 
riviere des Chutes, (the river of the Falls) so called by the 
Canadian voyagers, not for having falls, but because of its 
proximity to the falls to be found in the Columbia. We 
approached them on the right shore, with great precaution, 
on account of the stream. ; 'These falls," ( Chutes in French) 
says Father Demers, in the report of his first trip to Colville 
in 1839, ' 'are a series of rocks, a mile or two long, which 
extend across the Columbia and leave but a small channel 
on the left shore. These rocks rise ever so little in an amphi- 
theatre and are divided by a great number of channels 
which the mass of water has cut for a passage, by the length 
of time. The first chute is pretty regular and from 20 to 30 
feet wide. I went as far as possible to examine them more 
closply. Their number and variety are surprising. They 
are not equally deep. Some are dry, whereas, in others, pass- 
es a large volume of water. The falls are from 3 to 12 and 
15 feet high. One may be astonished to learn that these 
chutes, so terrible in low water, but smooth and still in the 
highest pitch of water, which does not happen every year. 
Then it is that, instead of fearing them, the voyagers 
hasten to approach them, to light their pipes and rest. 
Then follows : Here we had a long portage, etc. 



186 ADDENDA AND ERRATA. 

Page 50, for coat, read robe ; page 50, second paragraph, 
after ' '40 from the Dalles, " add : "80 from Walla Walla, ' ' 
etc. Page 56, for quomad, rea/ 1 quomado ; page 59, for 
missionaries, read missionary who is ; page 71, 1857 should 
be 1847 ; page 94, for Laprombon, read Laframboise ; page 
167, he was baptised at the age of 40 with 8 children ; page 
126, for Kitren,. read Kitson ; N page 134, for Balduc, real 
Bolduc ; page 140, 1842 should be 1844 ; page 144, May 4 
should be May 7 ; page 147, the following words should be 
added after the word rash: "and inconsiderate conduct of 
Dr. White and the" rash, &c. Page 154, for Jume and Eire, 
read Illme and Rme ; page 156, for Jayot, read Jayol ; page 
164, for Wailatpu, read Waulatpu ; page 177, for teaching, J 
read touching ; page 179, for March 7, read March 2 ; page 
181, add with the Catholic Ladder after "teach them." 




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